Steph Curry vs Steve Nash: Two Point Guards Who Changed Basketball

Few debates in NBA circles generate as much heat as Stephen Curry vs. Steve Nash, two undersized guards who revolutionized the way the modern game is played from the point guard role.

Shooting & Scoring

The beginning and end of Curry’s case is the three-point line. He holds the all-time NBA record for threes made with 4,225 three-pointers made and 10,017 attempted in his career.

He also holds the highest career free-throw percentage in NBA history at .912, and became the first player to be unanimously voted MVP while leading the league in scoring and shooting above the 50-40-90 mark during the 2015-16 season, the same year Golden State set the record for most wins in a regular season with a 73-9 mark.

Nash played more for efficiency and distribution. He was a four-time member of the 50-40-90 club, and at retirement he ranked as the NBA’s all-time leader in free-throw percentage at 90.43 percent, joining Larry Bird, Reggie Miller and Mark Price as the only players to do it before him.

Interestingly, only one player has since out-topped him in that category, and it’s Curry himself.

Making plays

That's where Nash separates himself. He ended his career with 10,335 total assists, third all-time behind John Stockton and Jason Kidd, and topped the league in assists per game five times.

With coach Mike D’Antoni, his “Seven Seconds or Less” Suns offence became one of the most influential systems in NBA history.

Curry, while not a pure pass-first guard, has still proven to be a dynamic playmaker within Golden State's motion-heavy system, though his assist numbers have never approached Nash's distribution totals.

MVP Awards & Dominance at the Top

Both men won back-to-back MVPs, but at very different stages of their careers.

Nash was 31 and 32 winning his MVPs in 2004-05 and 2005-06, respectively, pushing back the idea that those should be a player’s twilight years.

Curry, meanwhile, was in his physical prime when he won his MVPs in 2015 and 2016, the latter being unanimous.

Championships: The Great Divide

This is where the comparison tilts heavily toward Curry. Nash’s teams, for all their individual brilliance and innovation, never won a championship, never even made the NBA Finals.

Curry meanwhile has helped the Warriors win four championships - in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022 - and also won Finals MVP honours in 2022.

The Verdict

Nash redefined the point guard position, showing how elite shooting and pace can elevate a franchise to relevance, but his legacy will forever be tinged with the "what if" of a ring that never materialized.

Curry took those same principles of shooting, added a global 3-point revolution, and backed it all up with championship hardware.

The debate is closer than people realize in pure individual talents but Curry's trophy case seals the argument when talking legacy