By just about any measure imaginable, Stephen Curry is the greatest shooter the NBA has ever seen. That was true heading into the month, but with the 33-year-old battling injuries the last few years, it looked like the two-time MVP might have been on the downswing of his career. And then April happened.
After Monday's 49-point outburst against Philadelphia, Curry set an NBA record for most consecutive 30-point games by someone 33 or older (previously set by Kobe Bryant). For the month he's averaging 40.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists, while with shooting splits of 55/50/91.
That includes four games in the last five with at least 10 made threes. To put how incredible that is, here is the complete list of players in NBA history with multiple games of double-digit made three in a career (keep in mind, the three-point line was introduced in 1979):
2 - Zach LaVine: The All-Star made 10 threes in a January loss to the Clippers and made 13 in a November 2019 game against Charlotte. In 406 career games those are his only such performances, despite LaVine sitting fifth in the league in three-point makes this year and 12th last year.
3 - JR Smith: The only non-active player on this list, Smith played in 977 career NBA games, made 1,930 triples in his career and only accomplished the feat three times despite sitting in the top-20 all-time in three-point field goal attempts.
3 - Damian Lillard: Forty-three percent of Lillard's career field goal attempts have been beyond the arc, and his next make will give him 10th place on the NBA's all-time list. Still only 30, there's a probable chance he retires second or third on the career list, behind only Curry, and maybe Ray Allen and/or James Harden. And yet, he's only made 10 in a game three times in his career, most recently in January 2020 against Golden State.
3 - James Harden: Mr. Usage Rate himself, only Allen has attempted more threes in NBA history than Harden - he averages 7.7 attempts per game from deep, and in the last five years that's increased to 10.5. He's fifth all-time in makes, and by next season will pass Reggie Miller for third. And yet he's only hit double-digits in a game three times, two of which came on back-to-back nights in December 2019, when he hit 10 against both Cleveland and Orlando.
5 - Klay Thompson: The only other player besides Curry with more than three such performances is his fellow Splash Brother. Thompson achieved the feat once in 2014-15, twice the following season and twice in 2018-19, including a record 14-make performance against Chicago in October 2018 in which he scored 52 points in 27 minutes. A 42 percent shooter from beyond the arc, he's "only" made double-digits five times in his career, despite taking 44 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.
21 - Stephen Curry: Put all of the above performances together. That number equals 16. In other words, Curry has more than the rest of them combined. And he has done it more in the last five games (four) than everyone in history (minus Thompson) has done in an entire career. Extend it a little further, he has six such performances this season alone.
Since the three-point line was introduced there have been 65 games in which an individual made at least 10 threes. Curry makes up nearly a third of that total. By early next year he'll become the NBA's all-time leader in career makes, and he might add a third MVP to his name within a few months. Appreciate the greatness in front of you.