Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history for 75th anniversary

15 of 78

Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors. Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images /

Ranking the 75 best players in NBA history: No. 13 – Stephen Curry

Career: 2009 – present

Achievements: Three-time champion; two-time MVP; All-NBA (7x); All-Star (7x); Scoring champion (2x); Second in career 3-pointers

Stephen Curry is our second active player on the list and the first with the chance to improve his standing. Just last season Curry led the league in scoring and finished 3rd in MVP voting, so he could absolutely continue to log accomplishments that push him up this list.

Curry is the greatest shooter in NBA history, and it’s not clear what argument could be made by anyone against that. This season he will pass Ray Allen for the most 3-pointers in NBA history, and in hundreds of fewer games. He was the best player on the 73-win Golden State Warriors team that set the record for most wins in a single season.

Injuries early in his career have Curry slightly behind the eight ball with other volume statistics, but his per-game numbers are phenomenal. Advanced metrics love him, as his combination of incendiary shooting and immense gravity propel his offenses into the stratosphere. There is a reasonable argument to be made that, given how his shooting warps and breaks opposing defenses, that he is the greatest offensive player in NBA history.

Even if you’re not wanting to go that far, he changed the sport of basketball forever with the sheer volume and audacity of his 3-point attempts. He has a very real chance of cracking the Top-10 by the end of his career.