Shaquille O’Neal recently brought up how Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry should be in the GOAT conversation. While many scoffed at that notion, they do at least have to acknowledge that Curry has revolutionized the game and is an all-time great. Turning 37 years old in a week, he still can score with the best of them. His outing on Thursday helped him move into the top ten in NBA history for most career 40-point games.
Steph Curry Ties Abdul-Jabbar And Rick Barry In Record Books
Steph Curry Now Has 70 Games Of At Least 40 Points
Thursday night saw the Warriors win a close affair with the Brooklyn Nets by the score of 121-119. The win improved Golden State’s record to 35-28 on the season. As the postseason nears, the Warriors have shown since the Jimmy Butler trade that they should be a team nobody wants to face.
While Butler is new to the squad, Curry is in his 16th year with the team. On Thursday, the four-time NBA champion dropped 40 points in the win. The 6-foot-2 guard shot 12-20 from the field, 7-13 from beyond the arc, and 9-9 from the foul line.
In what has been a legendary career, Curry has now on 70 occurrences reached at least 40 points in a game. That puts him into a tie for the 10th-most in NBA history, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Rick Barry. Until he was passed by LeBron James in 2023, Abdul-Jabbar had been the all-time leader in career points.
The seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, Curry is still producing at a mighty high level. Thursday marked his second 40+ point game on the season, but he also has an additional 13 contests of at least 30. On February 27, Curry dropped a season-high 56 points against the Orlando Magic. In his 54 outings this season, he has posted averages of 24.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 6.2 assists. Curry has shot 45.1% from the field, 40.1% from three-point range, and 93.0% from the charity stripe.
Wilt Chamberlain Head And Shoulders Above Everyone Else
While Curry is certainly getting up there in age, there has been nothing in his game that makes it seem as if retirement is right around the corner. He should likely pass Abdul-Jabbar and Barry at some point in career 40-point games, but it may take a while for him to move further up the list.
He is one behind Kevin Durant for ninth as his former Warriors teammate has 71 outings of at least 40 points. The problem is, Durant is still active, and still scores at an elite level (averaging 26.9 points this season). After that, the next three on the list are Oscar Robertson (77), Allen Iverson (79), and LeBron James (79 and still active). Steph Curry, and in all likelihood nobody else ever, will surpass Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time record of 271 games of 40+ points.
In the meantime, Curry’s Warriors have been ascending up the Western Conference standings. They have moved above the Play-In Tournament range as they are now in sixth place in the West. Golden State next game is on Saturday when they go on the road to take on the Detroit Pistons.
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