After a scramble, the Warriors recover & get it to Stephen Curry, who connects on his 4,000th career 3-pointer.
The NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made entered Thursday just two triples shy of the milestone.
With the Warriors hosting the Kings on Thursday (LIVE, TNT/TruTV/Max), Stephen Curry’s latest shooting milestone has been achieved, as he hit the two triples necessary to become the first player in NBA history to reach 4,000 career 3-pointers made.
Curry became the all-time leader in 3-pointers made on Dec. 14, 2021, when he splashed his 2,974th career triple to break the mark previously held by Ray Allen.
It’s been 1,185 days since that night at Madison Square Garden. Curry played in 221 games and made another 1,026 3-pointers since then, putting him on the precipice of starting his own shooting club.
Curry was the first player to reach 3,000 career 3-pointers made and has since been joined by James Harden (3,117). While Damian Lillard (2,785) and former teammate Klay Thompson (2,657) are approaching 3,000 as well, Curry is alone as he escalates beyond 4,000.
The road to this milestone moment began in 2009 when the Warriors selected Curry with the seventh overall pick in the Draft. As a rookie, Curry finished 10th in 3-pointers made with 166. It would be his lowest ranking in all but two seasons in his 16-year career — and both of those were cut short due to injuries.
Curry has led the NBA in total 3-pointers made in eight of his 16 seasons, including his record 402 3-pointers in 2015-16, when he became the first unanimous Kia MVP. Curry has more seasons with 300+ 3-pointers made (five) than all other players in the NBA combined (James Harden and Thompson have the only other two).
Harden and Thompson also rank second to Curry in games with at least five and 10 3-pointers made, respectively.
Curry’s 388 games with five-plus 3-pointers made is one more than second and third place combined (387 by Harden and Damian Lillard). Meanwhile, Curry’s 26 games with 10-plus 3-pointers made is more than the next five players combined.
Curry has 14 games in his career with 11 or more 3-pointers, including one this season (Feb. 27) when he splashed a dozen 3-pointers in a road win vs. the Magic.
During that game against Orlando, Curry hit his longest shot of the season — a 51-footer from beyond half court to beat the halftime buzzer. The shot gave Curry 21 points at the half, which he followed with a 35-point second half to finish with 56 points — the fourth-highest scoring game of his career.
As the shot chart above illustrates, Curry is not afraid of taking shots from beyond half court and risking damage to his shooting percentage. Over his career, Curry has hit six backcourt shots in 113 attempts (5.3%), while still ranking fourth in career 3-point percentage (42.4%) among 161 players with at least 1,000 3-pointers made.
“He was due for one of those,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “One of the many things I love about Steph, he always shoots the half-court shots, he doesn’t care about his percentage. He’s had so many the last couple years that were right there and as soon as he let it go I said that’s in. I just felt it.”
Consistency is a key factor in Curry’s road to 4,000 career made 3-pointers. While all shooters go through slumps, Curry has never played three consecutive games without making at least one 3-pointer.
Curry has made at least one 3-pointer in 967 of his 1,010 career games. That 95.7% rate ranks first all-time among players that have played at least 50 games. Only 186 players in NBA history have ever played in 967 games, let alone have that many games with a 3-pointer.
Curry not only holds the record for most consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer made (268 games over five seasons from 2018-2023), he also owns the second-longest streak (157 games, 2014-2016).
All of this adds up to a shooting resume unlike any the game has ever seen. And now, with those 2 more 3-pointers, Curry adds another accolade to the list.
