Ray Allen: Stephen Curry ‘has to be’ greatest shooter of all-time in the end
The all-time leader in 3-pointers anoints the reigning MVP as the NBA’s top shooter of all-time.
No NBA player has made more 3-pointers than Ray Allen. He also once held the record for most threes in a single season, won the 2001 Three-Point Shootout and is generally regarded as having one of the best pure shots in league history.
But when it comes to identifying the greatest shooter in NBA history, Allen says there’s no doubt that Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry is well on his way to locking up that honor.
“Based on what he’s done, I think he has to be,” Allen said in a recent interview with SLAM. “He’s on his way to being the best ever.”
Curry drained an NBA-record 402 shots from 3-point range this season, easily smashing the previous record of 286, which he set last season. Allen once held the record himself after finishing with a seemingly paltry total of 269 in the 2005-06 season.
Allen’s total has been eclipsed three times by Curry, and even once by Curry’s teammate Klay Thompson, who finished with 276 this season.
In the SLAM interview, Allen said that comparing shooters from different eras is difficult, but in his mind, Curry is “creating a lane all of his own.”
“Myself, Reggie Miller, Kyle Korver, Klay Thompson — we play a different game. We’re shooters. We come off screens, pindowns — Steph can do that, but he’s creating a different lane,” Allen said. “Point guards haven’t been able to do what he’s been able to do, because he’s mixing that 2 guard-ish in there with having the great handles of a point guard.”
Allen also said the Splash Brothers’ impact is apparent on younger players.
“When I broke the three-point record, they (Curry and Thompson) watched that and it became something they said in their mind, this is what I want to do,” Allen said. “Now, there are kids watching him, saying I want to work on these things, I want to be just like Steph.”
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