Already a basketball legend, Stephen Curry stands 15 3-pointers away from NBA immortality. Entering Wednesday night’s game against Portland in the Chase Center, Curry has hit 2,958 3-pointers in his career. When asked earlier this week if it would be possible for him to reach Ray Allen’s 2,973 record in one night, Curry grinned at the podium.
“Crazier things have happened” the two-time MVP said.
If Curry were to break the all-time record against the Blazers, he’d also take Klay Thompson’s spot as the record-holder for most 3s in a single game — a fact he’s well aware of.
“If you’ve seen the way I’ve played, especially recently, I’m not shy about shooting the ball, so the game will dictate what that looks like,” Curry said. “I’m not coming out with that as the true goal of how I play, but crazier things have happened.”
Regardless of when Curry becomes the NBA’s all-time 3-point leader, his place on the pantheon of Bay Area sports is already secure. Duane Kuiper, who’s been part of the fabric of Bay Area sports since he joined the Giants as a player in the early 1980s, knows this as well as anyone.
Joining KNBR’s Murph & Mac on Wednesday, the broadcaster reflected on Curry’s place in Bay sports history.
“He’s such a prize to this area,” Kuiper said of Curry. “He and Buster Posey and all these great athletes that have come through. You really have to enjoy them while they’re here because of what happened two months ago when Buster decided to retire. Because all of the sudden, in the blink of an eye, they’re gone. And then you have to start thinking about when the next one’s going to come through here. Well, who knows? Could be with the Giants or Niners or Warriors. It just doesn’t happen all the time. We’re really lucky. We really are.”
The similarities between Posey and Curry, as highlighted by The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami last August, are striking. Each have brought three championships to the Bay Area, and each have — at least so far — spent their entire careers here. They’re both singular stars who debuted in 2009, overcame injuries and rejuvenated their respective franchises.
“When you start thinking about Mt. Rushmore, there’s got to be more than four in the Bay Area,” Kuiper said. “But those two, you’ve really got to start thinking about it if you’re just going to pick four. It’s really impossible to pick four…When you have the likes of Mays and Jerry Rice, Rick Barry. So it’s probably a waste of energy to really think about it. But what they have meant, they being Curry and Buster over the last 10 years, has really been amazing. For people who just love watching their teams, and if their teams happen to be the Giants and the Warriors, how fortunate have we been to be able to witness those two guys lead their teams every night? Baseball, it’s 162. Basketball, it’s 82. With basketball, it just doesn’t feel like 82 is enough.”
Joe Montana, Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson and others make the Mt. Rushmore exercise as tough for the Bay as any other sports city. But the legacy Curry and Posey specifically are leaving for a generation of fans is special.
“I know, because I’ve got a son that’s 33, and he’s got friends that have grown up with Buster Posey,” Kuiper said. “Hearing stories now, on that day he was announced that he was going to retire, grown men cried. Not nine or 10 year olds. We’re talking about adults that were that severely affected by Buster’s decision. That’s the impact that athletes like Curry and Buster Posey have had on this community. It truly is amazing. We’ve all been blessed to watch these two. And it is a void. When Curry decides to take a hike, it’s going to be a huge void.”
Kuiper thinks it’s more likely Curry breaks the record on Friday in Philadelphia than Wednesday.
For the full conversation with Duane Kuiper, including when he thinks Curry will break the record and his thoughts on the Veteran’s Committee Hall of Fame inductees, check out the Murph & Mac Podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Catch Murph & Mac weekdays from 6 – 10 a.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.