If you aggregate the major media rankings from ESPN, The Athletic, or CBS, you will find Stephen Curry nestled somewhere between the 10th and 14th greatest player of all time. He is usually flanked by Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Durant, trailing the titans: Jordan, LeBron, Kareem, Magic, Bird, Duncan, Shaq, Kobe, and Russell.
That is the "Curry Gravity"—a phenomenon that has no statistical box. It is the panic in a defense’s eyes. Because it is invisible to the standard box score, we chronically undervalue it. For the first half of his career, a loud contingent argued that Curry was a product of the "Warriors system." The discourse went like this: Put him on the Charlotte Bobcats and he’s just a rich man’s J.J. Redick. Stephen Curry- Underrated
Consider this: Before Curry, the most three-pointers made in a season was 286 (Ray Allen). Curry blew past that by 116 shots. That is like someone breaking the single-season home run record by 40 homers. It broke the sport. Defenses literally changed overnight. The now shoots more threes than the record-setting 2016 Warriors. If you aggregate the major media rankings from
George Mikan (big man dominance). Inflection Point 2: Bill Russell (defense and winning). Inflection Point 3: Michael Jordan (global icon and scoring title). Inflection Point 4: LeBron James (physical versatility and longevity). Inflection Point 5: Stephen Curry (the three-point revolution and space). It is the panic in a defense’s eyes