Stephen Curry passes Reggie Miller for No. 2 all-time in 3-pointers made
Stephen Curry is now 411 made 3-pointers behind Hall of Famer Ray Allen for the most in NBA history.
With a catch-and-shoot corner 3 in third quarter Saturday night in Salt Lake City, Stephen Curry passed Hall of Famer Reggie Miller for second place on the NBA’s all-time 3-pointers made list.
Miller made 2,560 3-pointers over 1,389 regular season games during his 18-year NBA career; Curry passed him in his 715th career game, coming early in his 12th NBA season.
Growing up, Reggie Miller was my favorite player.
With @StephenCurry30 passing @ReggieMillerTNT for 2nd all-time in threes made, take a look at the mutual admiration these two sharpshooters have for each other. pic.twitter.com/whsHdsV0KG
— NBA (@NBA) January 24, 2021
“That’s pretty dope,” Curry said after the game (the Jazz beat the Warriors 127-108). “We got our head beat tonight, but I was trying to still enjoy it. After I made the third one, I knew that was a big one, and then to make that fourth one in the third quarter was pretty special. Something I’ve been looking forward to for a very long time.”
Only one player remains ahead of Curry in the race for the title of 3-point king after Miller, and that is the legendary shooter, Ray Allen. Allen, who currently holds the top spot with 2,973 career 3s, has a substantial lead of over 400 3-pointers. This should secure his title for 2021. However, it seems inevitable that Curry will eventually surpass this and claim the record for himself.
So many small ones like mine find inspiration in you.
Our guy @ReggieMillerTNT congratulated Steph after he moved into 2nd place on the all-time 3PM list. pic.twitter.com/tsKYHuMUGa
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 24, 2021
Given Curry’s present rate of scoring 3-point shots (4.1 3PM per game), it would take him slightly more than 100 games to surpass Allen. However, with only 57 games left in this abbreviated 72-game season, it’s probable that Curry won’t be able to vie for Allen’s record until the latter half of the 2021-22 season.
The distinguishing factor between Curry and Miller and Allen is the rate at which he has ascended the all-time leaderboard. While Miller and Allen incorporated the 3-point shot into their gameplay, Curry’s shooting skills contributed to a 3-point revolution, combined with an increasing focus on the 3-point shot. In essence, he revolutionized the game.
Over the past six seasons, Curry has averaged at least 9.8 3-point attempts per game each year and has three seasons averaging at least 11 3s per game. By comparison, Miller’s career-high in 3-point attempts for a season was 6.6 in 1996-97 (3rd in NBA), while Allen’s was 8.4 in 2005-06 (1st in NBA by 1.6 3PA).
Curry’s ascent isn’t solely due to his increased number of 3-point attempts. The fact that he is almost universally considered the best shooter ever is because he pairs his high volume with unparalleled accuracy. Curry has a career 43.3% shooting record from distance, in comparison to Miller’s 39.5% and Allen’s 40.0%.
Curry’s 43.3% career 3-point percentage ranks seventh all-time and leads all players ranked in the top 200 in 3-pointers made. Curry has a strong connection with the top two players on the all-time 3-point percentage list: No. 1 is his head coach Steve Kerr (45.4%) and No. 2 is his younger brother Seth (44.9%), who is shooting a league-best 59.6% this season from 3 for the Philadelphia 76ers.
The key reasons why Curry surpassed Miller’s career total in just 715 games, which Miller accumulated over 1,389 games, are his combination of high volume and incredible accuracy. This is also why Curry will be the first player to exceed 3,000 career 3-pointers made, setting a benchmark for all other shooters.
Which Players Will Eventually Challenge Curry?
If Curry does surpass Allen to set a new career record for 3-pointers, two questions will still be left unanswered: Firstly, how high will he set the record? Secondly, which existing players stand a chance to surpass him in the future?
Let’s go back to the all-time leaderboard for 3-pointers made, but rather than track totals we’ll look at per game averages instead. The 14 players with the highest 3-pointers made per game are all active players before we get to Allen at No. 15. Let’s take a closer look at the top 10 on that list and see which players may have a shot at catching Curry.
Currently, Curry is leading and shows no signs of letting up, making it difficult for other veteran players to catch up with him. Harden, who is currently fifth in the all-time ranking, trails Curry by nearly 200 3-pointers. Despite an incredible pace of making 3-pointers in his last two seasons in Houston (4.8 per game in 2018-19 and 4.4 per game in 2019-20), Harden is now adapting to a new role in Brooklyn and has averaged 3.2 3-pointers per game this season.
Eliminating the veterans (Thompson, Lillard, Harden, and George) from the list allows us to concentrate on the younger players who were inspired by Curry’s game as they aspired to join the NBA. These players are not just influenced by Curry, but they are also investing their entire careers in an NBA era that has unprecedentedly accepted the 3-point shot.
The highest number of 3-pointers in the first 100 games of a player’s career:
1. Duncan Robinson, 326
2. Luka Doncic, 250Noteworthy mentions (keep in mind, the game has significantly evolved):
11. Klay Thompson, 204
12. Stephen Curry, 200
18. Mike Miller, 190
59. Ray Allen, 145— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) January 19, 2021
Donovan Mitchell broke Buddy Hield’s record for the least number of games required to score 600 career 3-pointers earlier this week. He achieved this feat in 240 games, four games fewer than Hield’s 244. Despite not being a 3-point specialist, Mitchell has managed to progress faster due to the increasing importance of the 3-point shot in today’s game. This is akin to how Curry has surpassed Miller and is poised to overtake Allen.
Keep a close watch on the youngest players on the top 10 list – Trae Young (22) from Atlanta and Luka Doncic (21) from Dallas. Both are in their third season of play and have exceptional 3-point shooting skills. Their blend of high volume 3-point shooting and youth provides them with the best opportunity to rival Curry.
4 More Stats to Know on Curry’s 3-Point Shooting
1. Double-Digit 3-Point Shooting Games
Curry has 15 of the 56 games in NBA history when a player has made at least 10 3-pointers in a game. The next ranked player is his teammate Klay Thompson with five, followed by the trio of Damian Lillard, James Harden and JR Smith with three each and Zach LaVine with two. No other player has more than one game with at least 10 3-pointers made.
Thompson is the current record holder for the most 3-pointers made in a single game (14), closely followed by Curry and LaVine who have each made 13 3-pointers. Curry was the pioneer in this category, setting a new record on November 7, 2016 when he made 13 out of 17 3-point attempts in a game against the Pelicans. Two years later, Thompson surpassed this record, and LaVine equaled Curry’s achievement in 2019.
2. Playoff 3-Pointers Made
Keep in mind that all of the numbers discussed so far are for regular season games only, and do not count Curry’s record 470 3-pointers made in the NBA Playoffs. Curry racked up his 470 3s over 112 career playoff games (4.2 3PM per game); he is followed by LeBron James, who has 414 3s in 260 career playoff games (1.6 per game).
Regarding the legend he just surpassed, Reggie Miller is ranked sixth for playoff 3s with 320 in 144 games, averaging 2.2 per game. However, he is still chasing the legend, Ray Allen, in regular season 3s who is ranked third for playoff 3s with 385 in 171 games, averaging 2.3 per game.
3. Most 3-Pointers Made in a Season
There have been four seasons in NBA history when a player has made at least 300 3-pointers – Curry accounts for three of the four, with James Harden being the only other member of the club. In 2015-16, Curry not only became the first-and-only unanimous selection for the Kia Most Valuable Player award, he also set the record for 3-pointers made in a season as he shot 402-for-886 (45.4%) from beyond the arc over 79 games.
In the 2018-19 season, Harden was second with 378 3-pointers, while Curry had the third highest with 354. In the 2016-17 season, Curry made 324 3-pointers. Curry not only holds records for three of the top four seasons for total 3-pointers made, but also occupies six spots in the top 20 list. Harden has four spots in the top 20, while Buddy Hield and Klay Thompson are the only other players with more than one position in the top 20.
4. Most Consecutive Games With a 3-Pointer
Curry holds the record with 157 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer made, a streak that spanned three seasons from Nov. 13, 2014 to Nov. 3, 2016. Kyle Korver is the only other player to reach 100 straight games with a 3-pointer at 127 games.
Curry does not have the longest active streak in the league, that belongs to Sacramento’s Buddy Hield at 82 straight games, followed by Curry and Brooklyn’s Joe Harris each with 77 consecutive games. Toronto’s Fred VanVleet and Brooklyn’s James Harden are the only other players with an active streak of at least 40 games.
Curry’s Milestone 3-Pointers on Climb to No. 2
Curry started his journey to become the second highest career 3-pointer maker in 2009, when he joined the league as the seventh overall pick from Davidson College. Let’s revisit the significant milestones he reached on his way up the ranks.
1 – Oct. 30, 2009: After missing his only 3-point attempt in his NBA debut, Curry shot 2-for-3 from beyond the arc in his second career game, a 123-101 loss to Phoenix.
100 – Feb. 27, 2010: Curry’s 100th 3-pointer came in his 58th career game as he shot 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and finished with a game-high 27 points in a 95-88 win over Detroit.
500 – Jan. 26, 2013: Curry reached 500 career 3-pointers in his 221st career game with No. 500 coming on a night when he scored 26 points on 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point land in a 109-102 loss to Milwaukee.
1,000 – Jan. 7, 2015: Curry became the fastest player to ever reach 1,000 3-pointers made as he reached the century mark in just his 369th career game. He reached the milestone during a 117-102 win over Indiana when he shot 4-for-8 from deep and finished with 21 points.
1,500 – March 11, 2016: The theme of Curry being the fastest to reach a 3-point milestone continued as he hit the 1,500 mark, this time shattering the previous record held by Ray Allen. Curry needed only 477 games to reach 1,500 3-pointers made, while Allen needed 661 games.
Enters Top 10 – March 5, 2017: Curry entered the top 10 on the all-time 3-pointers made list at Madison Square Garden in New York – the same arena where he set his career-best scoring mark of 54 points four years prior (he topped that mark with a 62-point game earlier this season). Curry scored 31 points and shot 5-for-13 on 3s in a 112-105 win, ending the night with 1,833 career 3-pointers, passing Chauncey Billups (1,830) to crack the top 10.
2,000 – Dec. 4, 2017: Curry became the eighth player in NBA history to reach 2,000 career 3-pointers and did so faster than any other player, needing only 597 games to hit the milestone. Curry scored 31 points and shot 5-for-11 on 3s in Golden State’s 125-115 win, but the achievement was marred by a sprained ankle late in the game that would cost Curry nearly four weeks of action.
Enters Top 5 – Oct. 24, 2018: Curry entered the top five on the all-time 3-point list in style as he scored 51 points and made 11 3s during Golden State’s 144-122 win over Washington. With his third 3-pointer of the night, Curry (2,162) passed Jamal Crawford (2,153) for fifth place in career 3s made.
2,500 – Dec 27, 2020: In the third game of the 2020-21 season, Curry became the third player in NBA history to reach the 2,500 career 3-pointers made milestone, joining Reggie Miller and Ray Allen. Curry scored 36 points and shot 5-for-15 from deep to help the Warriors earn their first win of the season.
