Is Stephen Curry the Greatest Point Guard Ever?
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Stephen Curry’s resume strengthened this past summer after capturing his first gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games with Team USA. He produced for the country all tournament long, including a 36-point performance off of nine three-point shots made in a 15-point comeback over Serbia, as well as late game show-stealing and deal-sealing heroics in the conclusion of the Men’s Gold Medal Game against France. Even in his first Olympics on a team full of superstars (many younger than Curry), he was able to take over and dominate to help save his team from defeat on numerous occasions. He is one of the main reasons basketball gold once again belongs to the States, so an often revisited question is sparked as the offseason continues: is he the GOAT point guard?
Quick Look At Curry’s Career
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Stephen Curry was selected seventh overall out of Davidson in 2009 by the Golden State Warriors. Curry quickly proved doubters wrong with his play on struggling Warriors teams in the early years of his career. 2014-15 was when he took the league by storm with his prolific three-point shooting ability and rise to the league’s top, winning 2014-15 regular season MVP honors and the 2015 NBA championship. Many already began to argue for him as the greatest shooter in league history (a title he certainly has locked up now) and he looked even better in Golden State’s historic 2015-16 season where the team went 73-9 in the regular season, but unfortunately fell short of winning back-to-back titles. The addition of Kevin Durant saw Stephen Curry capture his second and third titles in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. 2022 was when Stephen Curry won his first NBA Finals MVP and proved he could lead a team to a championship by himself. Curry is consistently at the top tier of the league’s talent and his resume has only strengthened in recent years, which certainly could mean he is the league’s greatest point guard ever, but it is important to look at the other option before deciding that.
Comparing Curry to Magic Johnson
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There are many all-time great names at the point guard position in the history of the NBA: Oscar Robertson, Isiah Thomas, John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Russell Westbrook, etc. - but Curry has well separated himself from those guys. 5-time NBA champion Earvin Magic Johnson is the other name that holds an argument for the spot as the greatest point guard ever.
Unlike Curry, Magic’s individual regular season dominance was directly translated into the postseason right away, even winning Finals MVP as a rookie. Magic’s size also allowed him to be dominant in the paint, which Curry has been limited with throughout his career. Johnson’s playmaking ability with his out-of-world passes stole shows and helped his teams in pivotal moments, like Curry’s three-pointers.
The Answer
The Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry of the 1980s is often mirrored to Curry-LeBron James where two of the leagues biggest stars’ share of the gold over the years took the league over. Steph is playing in a game that revolves around shooting, particularly from deep, and Curry himself is to credit for that. Starting off as a skinny player out of Davidson on a struggling team to quickly helping not only change the fate of a franchise but transforming the way the game is played as well, is one of the game’s greatest stories. On top of that, his accomplishments in the NBA, particularly the 2022 championship already had him in the conversation, and his revolutionary style of play and heavy impact helped lead a superstar-loaded Team USA to a gold medal. With all taken into account, it is officially time to call Stephen Curry the greatest point guard of all time.
