Stephen Curry vs Damian Lillard: Who’s the better deep threat?

Who would have thought we’d be debating who is the better deep threat: Stephen Curry or Damian Lillard. As wild as that sounds, it’s closer than you think.

Who’s the greatest shooter in NBA history? To almost everyone, that answer is Stephen Curry and for good reasons. However, since being out for all but five games, Damian Lillard became the best deep threat this season.

To clarify what deep means:

That is what deep means, but if you want more of a specific definition of what counts as deep, then anything that’s 30 foot or further.

You may be asking why are we having this conversation – Curry is the greatest shooter, right? Well, you can blame Max Kellerman and other talking heads on television and Twitter. Now, what Kellerman debated wasn’t exactly saying that Lillard is a better deep threat than Curry, but it did spark a debate on Twitter and led to Kirk Goldsberry posting an interesting stat.

Well, let’s find out. To see who’s a better deep threat, I went through both players’ 3-point shooting from 30-footers or further and dug deeper than just providing one stat. Here you will see:

• 30-34 footers for each season, playoffs, and combined dating back to the 2014-15 season
• 35-39 footers for each season, playoffs, and combined dating back to the 2014-15 season
• 30+ footers in general for each season, playoffs, and combined
• Type of shot- jump shot (standing or running), pull-up, turnaround, step-back, and fade-away

I decided to cut off any shot beyond 40+ footers, as almost every shot was a desperation shot at the end of the quarter.

First, let’s look at Curry’s stats with the Golden State Warriors:

People must have forgotten how great he is from deep. With regular-season and playoffs combined, Curry has made a shocking 75-of-196 30+ footers. This is good for a ridiculous 41.9 percent. To put some perspective on how ridiculous that is, the league average is 35.8 on every 3-pointer.

He has been a threat for way downtown for the past five seasons. This is also why, since the 2013-14 season, he has been first in 3-point gravity, per BBall-Index.

But what is surprising the most is how efficient he is on certain types of shots. He has attempted 50 pull-up jumpers from 30+ and made 34, which comes out at, well, 68.0 percent – don’t think you can get any more efficient.

Here are the rest of the shot types for Curry:

• Jumpshots – 34-of-134, 25.4 percent
• Stepback – 4-of-7, 57.1 percent
• Turnaround – 3-of-5, 60.0 percent

What about Lillard? Has he surpassed Curry as the best deep shooter?

Before the 2019-20 season, the answer would 100 percent be no. Absolutely not. However, now that we’re at the end of the season, the answer is not so certain.

Before this season, Damian Lillard was 50-of-151, which is at 33.1 percent. Stephen Curry would have had more 3-pointers made, attempted, and at a much higher efficiency. This season, however, he went 53-of-125, which is at 42.4 percent. If we’re just talking about peak for peak, Lillard has been better.

On the other hand, he has only been shooting this well for only one season, especially in the playoffs. Before 2018-19, he made a total of zero 3-pointers from 30+.

Here are Lillard’s stats by shot type:

• Pull-ups – 59-of-138, 42.8 percent
• Jumpshot – 40-of-143, 28.0 percent
• Stepback – 4-of-6, 66.7 percent
• Fadeaway – 0-of-3, 0.0 percent

It’s hard to compare both players as one missed an entire season and who knows how he would have played without Kevin Durant for the first time in a few years. But with Damian Lillard’s significant increase in his attempts, this will be one great debate for next season.

For now, Stephen Curry still stands as the best deep 3-point shooter.