Stephen Curry, regarded as the greatest shooter in NBA history, is on track to add another legendary milestone to his legacy. With 3,998 career regular-season three-pointers, Steph needs just two more to reach the 4k mark.
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The 36-year-old will have a prime opportunity to cross the landmark at home tonight, against the Sacramento Kings. Averaging 4.5 threes per game this season, it shouldn’t be too difficult for Steph to sink two more at Chase Center.
Curry sits comfortably on top of the NBA’s all-time three-point scorer’s list with James Harden, at 3,127 buckets, a distant second. Ray Allen, who retired in 2014, is No. 3 with 2,943. The Warriors star’s deep-range dominance is indeed remarkable. A look back on his other three-point milestones, however, throws up an interesting narrative.
It’s hard to believe watching him now, but Steph faced several obstacles in his professional career before eventually settling in as basketball’s most skilled marksman.
Curry’s challenging path to 4,000 threes
Curry is known to chuck up threes whenever he sees an inch of daylight nowadays. But it didn’t start that way. It notably took the four-time champion until his fourth season to average more than three 3-pointers per game.
Due to nagging ankle injuries, Steph’s path to his first 1,000 threes took the longest. Stretching from the beginning of his career in October 2009 to the middle of his first championship season in January 2015, it took over five years for Steph to reach 1k.
He was able to splash his 1,000th triple in front of the home crowd at Oracle Arena. That was a memorable moment at the beginning of his stardom. Steph’s next 1,000 threes came during the peak of his career.
He surpassed the 2k mark following both of his MVP seasons, including his unanimous nomination in 2015-16. It took the future Hall of Famer just two years and 11 months to hit the number. Curry’s second milestone didn’t come at home, instead occurring during the Dubs’ road matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center in December 2017.
On his trek to 3,000 threes, Steph passed up two other legendary marksmen. The 11-time All-Star first surpassed Reggie Miller with his 2,561st make against the Utah Jazz in January 2021. Less than a year later, Steph became the NBA’s all-time leader in threes made.
Playing against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Curry knocked down his 2,974th three, surpassing Allen in an unforgettable moment in the star point guard’s career. Just two weeks later, Steph reached the 3k mark against the Nuggets in front of his home crowd.
Now with over 1,000 more makes than Allen, and with only Harden making notable headway behind him, Steph’s three-point record will be tough to break whenever he decides to hang it up.
