For a guy who holds a number of NBA records, Steph Curry does a good job of not chasing numbers, at least not outwardly. Last week, the 37-year-old admitted that while competing for championships with the Golden State Warriors remains his goal, he still thinks about climbing the all-time scoring list.
Curry sits at 24th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 25,386 points. Last year, Curry averaged 24.5 points and led the NBA in free-throw percentage (91.1%) and three-pointers per game (4.4) and scored 1,718 total points.
In an appearance on “360 With Speedy,” Curry confessed to host Speedy Morman that when it comes to his place on the all-time scoring list, “I do that math every once in a while…I do that math all the time just to get in your head how long do you have to play and to what level to catch the top of that list?”
We can do the math, too. If Curry matches last year’s scoring total, he’d make it to 27,104 points, which would take him past Hakeem Olajuwon and into 14th place on the all-time scoring list — unless Russell Westbrook can put up 900 points next season, wherever he ends up. To pass 10th-place Carmelo Anthony, he’d need 2,904 points, which is probably unattainable next season considering that would be the 6th-highest single-season total of all time, behind Michael Jordan and four Wilt Chamberlain seasons.
The complicating factor is that there are some active players still putting up numbers while Curry chases his place in history. James Harden has 27,687 points for 11th place, 2,301 ahead of Curry. Kevin Durant is in 8th place with 30,571. So to ensure his place in the top 10, Curry will have to get past Shaquille O’Neal’s 28,596 points, which is likely going to take three seasons.
That might not be a problem for Curry, who later in the interview said he was “not nowhere close” to retiring.
Is moving up the scoring list Curry’s priority? Not at all.
“That’s not why I’ll keep going,” Curry told Morman. “It’s more that I want to get to a level where we’re competing and playing for championships.”
Obviously, all he needs to get to that level is a little help from Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton, his brother Seth, and either a sullen Jonathan Kuminga or Ayo Dosunmu, Jalen Smith, and a lottery-protected Chicago Bulls first-round pick in 2029 or 2030. Then he’ll be moving up the all-time titles list even faster than the scoring list.
