When Steve Nash retired he was the 17th most prolific three-point shooter in NBA history.
Nearly two and a half years after his Los Angeles retirement press conference, he has been passed up by another great guard, one who has zero intention of slowing down his pace to the top.
Two nights ago, while Suns fans were busy watching Eric Bledsoe score 32 points in a thrilling overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, Steph Curry did what he does better than anybody in the NBA today: he hit a three-point shot.
With 6:30 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Curry nailed a three – his first of the game – bringing the Warriors to within one point of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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An otherwise routine and mundane event in the basketball life of Steph Curry, that field goal was actually far more historic than usual.
That three-point shot was number 1,686 in the career of Steph Curry – one more than Steve Nash.
MVSteve played for 18 brilliant years with the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, and Los Angeles Lakers. Upon entering the league in 1996, he quickly developed into one of the most accurate and prolific three-point shooters in NBA history. In fact, in Nash’s first two years in the league he would average 41.6% from beyond the arc.
Completing his career 1,685-3,939 from long distance, a blazing 42.8%, Nash made the majority of those shots (1,051) while a member of the Suns. HIs accuracy was so stellar that he would also finish a given regular season with a three-point percentage over 40% 14 times, including his first eight seasons in Phoenix.
2007-08 was a banner year for Steve from range as he set career highs in three-pointers made (179), attempted (381), and 3PT% (47.0%). Additionally, 39.6% of his field goal attempts were threes, also a career high.
On March 31, 2008, Nash drained a career-high eight three-point field goals in one game (one off the franchise record) on only 12 attempts, scoring 36 points in a 132-117 win over the Denver Nuggets.
Steph Curry, on the other hand, came into the league chucking up (and nailing) three-point shots comparable to entire teams.
His rookie season three-point shooting numbers are similar to and on par with even Nash’s career bests.
Subsequently, Steph’s season bests are as good as and better than many player’s…well…careers.
Take last season for instance. Curry shattered (his own) NBA records for threes made (402) and attempted (886) and he did so with a gleaming 45.4% shooting percentage. Amazingly too, 55.4% of his field goal attempts were from three.
Then this season, on November 8, following an 0-10 shooting night from three several night before, Curry broke the all-time record (a record which he owned a share of) for most threes in a single game with 13, missing only four.
Albeit he only retired two and a half years ago, the game was much different in Steve Nash’s prime. Nash and Head Coach Mike D’Antoni revitalized the NBA and started an offensive trend that eventually morphed into the current Golden State Warriors. Had Nash been the recipient of a similar era-shift versus standing at its forefront his numbers from three would undoubtedly have been much higher than they ended up being, akin to Steph Curry.
Should Curry play another ten years and reach the eighteen-year mark like Nash, then the statistics he will accumulate will be unworldly compared to his forefather’s.
In the meantime, we are not only blessed with the opportunity to watch the greatest shooter in the game today, but always know that it was because of a Sun that Curry was able to play the style of game that makes him so special.
Steve Nash’s career stat may have been passed up, but his trendsetting legacy will live on forever.
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