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Tipping off
For much of his NBA career, Steph Curry has been mentioned in the same breath as the Bay Area’s greatest athletes of all time.
Mays. Rice. Bonds. Curry.
After Curry’s 41-point performance led the Warriors to a 126-119 overtime victory Saturday over the Magic, there’s another reason he belongs in that conversation.
Like Willie Mays, Jerry Rice, and Barry Bonds before him, Curry, 38, is defying the aging curve, performing at an elite level in his late 30s.
The sample size this season is only eight games. He played 43 games last season because of runner’s knee. And he’s averaging fewer than 30 minutes per game for the first time in his career. But in 237 minutes this season, Curry has scored 250 points and is shooting 44.7% from 3-point range.
Curry ranks second in the league at 31.3 points per game. Of the 39 players averaging at least 20 points per game this season, he’s one of only two older than 35; the other is 38-year-old Kevin Durant. And Curry is averaging 10 points per game more than Durant.
Among his NBA peers, Curry has no real comparison. The Bay Area legends? Now that’s a conversation worth having.
After joining the Oakland Raiders, Rice caught 83 passes for 1,139 yards at 39, then had 92 catches for 1,211 yards at 40. The greatest receiver in NFL history — and perhaps the league’s greatest player of all time — caught a touchdown in the Super Bowl at 40.
Mays, who played 23 seasons in the majors, was an All-Star at 38, 39, and 40. At 40, he finished 19th in MVP voting and posted 6.3 Wins Above Replacement, which ranked eighth in the National League, according to Baseball-Reference. His .425 on-base percentage led the NL.
Bonds comparisons are harder to justify given the slugger’s ties to performance-enhancing drugs, but it’s worth pointing out that he won four straight MVPs from ages 36 to 39 and posted a career-best 1.422 OPS in the season when he was 39.
Legacies are built during an athlete’s prime. The stretch from the late 20s to the early 30s is when records are set, titles are won, and greatness is established. But the late 30s are an interesting opportunity for an athlete such as Curry, who could have retired four years ago as a Bay Area sports icon.
Buster Posey, who led the Giants to three World Series titles, retired at 34 and was named president of baseball operations at 37. Joe Montana’s 49ers career was essentially over at 34, and although he played two seasons with the Chiefs, his days as the game’s best quarterback were behind him. Steve Young, whose career didn’t take off until he was 31, wrapped up a Hall of Fame run after his age-38 season.
That Posey, Montana, and Young bowed out before turning 40 doesn’t dim their achievements. But the fact that Curry is still making magic, four months shy of his 39th birthday, shows how rare his career is.
His scoring average will come down. His 44.7% clip will be difficult to sustain. The runner’s knee might catch up to him. But on nights like Saturday, none of that matters.
We all just know we’re witnessing greatness, and no one thinks it will stop anytime soon.
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