Stephen Curry has now firmly established himself as one of the greatest players in NBA history. Curry’s resume includes four titles, a Finals MVP, two MVPs and two scoring titles, and he has been a dominant force in the league for over a decade
Despite all of Curry’s heroics on the court, though, it appears a Hall of Famer doesn’t believe he’d do all that well back in the day. Stephen A. Smith stated on “First Take” that he was told by one that the Golden State Warriors superstar would be putting up pedestrian numbers, by his standards, in his era.
“I had a Hall of Famer come up to me and said to me, ‘Steph Curry would not have averaged more than 17 points a game,'” Smith said on First Take. “Now obviously, I think that that person should have been drug tested when he said that.
“But then I quieted down, because he wasn’t talking about his skill set,” Smith continued. “He said, ‘In our era, we would’ve hurt him.’ He said, ‘He’d have had to run through picks, he wouldn’t have been as protected by the officials. The game is exponentially more physical now than it was then. Remember when he came into the league with the ankle injury? He’d have never recovered from that with us.”
“I had a Hall of Famer come up to me and said to me, ‘Steph Curry would not have averaged more than 17 points a game. … In our era, we would’ve hurt him.'”😳 @stephenasmith on Draymond Green’s recent comments about comparing NBA eras 👀 pic.twitter.com/PxnstCSHR5
— First Take (@FirstTake) April 2, 2025
Curry, who was drafted with the seventh pick in 2009, had to undergo ankle surgeries in 2011 and 2012. He was eventually able to overcome those ankle problems and become the player he is today, but that Hall of Famer reckons that wouldn’t have happened in his era.
If Curry’s ankles were going to be targeted on a nightly basis, then it’s fair to assume he wouldn’t have turned out to be this great. He might have even been forced to walk away from the game early.
Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
If you take the injury element out, though, Curry would have been putting up big numbers back in the day, too. He currently has career averages of 24.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and those would have been similar or even better if he played back in the day.
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