Is Stephen Curry one of the better basketball players in history? Yes. Is he the best shooter ever? Probably. Is he a future Hall-of-Famer? No doubt about it.

But is he as legendary as the basketball world has made him out to be? Absolutely not.

As great as Curry has been over the course of his career, when the lights are the brightest, he’s typically nowhere to be found.

I Want Iguodala, Too

Years ago, sports television personality Max Kellerman went viral for saying that if the fate of the universe was on the line, he would pick Andre Iguodala to hit an open 3-point shot over Stephen Curry. He came under fire from many disagreeing fans, but was he right?

In the playoffs, Steph Curry has been historically poor on go-ahead shots with the game on the line.

On May 9, 2023, Barstool Sports wrote that Curry was 0-for-12 on go-ahead shots in the last 45 seconds of regulation/overtime in his playoff career. He has not taken any such shots since. The Warriors missed the playoffs in 2024, and Curry never took any such shots in the 2025 playoffs.

The only shot Curry took in the clutch in the playoffs since 2023 was a shot to pull further ahead from the Rockets in the 2025 playoffs. With 20 seconds to go in Game 4, he missed.

Yes, Curry went off in the 2024 Paris Olympics against France, hitting unthinkable shots in the waning moments. However, he has been unable to pull off similar feats in the NBA. 

Furthermore, on shots to tie or take the lead in the last minute of playoff games, Curry is 6-for-25 from the field and 3-for-14 from deep.

So I’m with Max Kellerman. If the fate of the universe is on the line, and I have to pick either Steph Curry or Andre Iguodala to nail an open look…I want Iguodala!

A Fraudulent Dynasty

“But Steph Curry is a four-time NBA champion! And a two-time MVP!” Well, let’s take a closer look at those rings.

If the pandemic-era Lakers title was just a “Mickey Mouse” championship, what is the 2015 Warriors title considered?

The Cavs’ star point guard, Kyrie Irving, suffered an injury in Game 1 of the Finals against the Warriors. And the Cavs’ third-best player, Kevin Love, never played in the Finals because Kelly Olynyk, who then played for the Celtics, purposely injured Love in the first round. If anyone wants to debate the intent, watch the clip below and think again.

Is beating LeBron James and some role players really that impressive? Besides, if Curry was so great, how did LeBron and his role player teammates manage to win two games against a healthy Warriors squad? Curry did not lead a single game in scoring that series. Andre Iguodala was more efficient from the field and from deep than Curry in that series, in addition to taking on the duties of stopping LeBron.

Curry was supposedly the leader of the team, yet it was Iguodala who won Finals MVP.

No “Ring” To It

The next year, Curry had a phenomenal regular season, leading the Warriors to the best regular season record in NBA history, 73-9. But as many have joked over the years, that doesn’t have a great “ring” to it.

The comeback from down 3-1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals was impressive. But when they finally had to play a healthy Cavs squad, they blew a 3-1 lead. 

In Game 7 of that year’s NBA Finals, the Warriors had a chance. But the unanimous MVP Curry shot 31.6% from the field and 28.6% from deep. He did not score or log an assist for the last six minutes of that game.

Cupcakes And Cakewalks

In 2017 and 2018, to make everything a complete cakewalk, Kevin Durant joined Curry’s Warriors.

In case some are wondering, yes, that’s the guy who almost beat the 73-9 Warriors before they could even sniff the Cavs. So, entering the 2016-17 season, it was two players who had combined for the last three MVPs, along with Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, each a top-five player at their position. And they were all under the age of 30!

It’s unreasonable to have expected anyone to take down that team, as the Warriors were so stacked that former Finals MVP Andre Iguodala became an afterthought. Here’s the thing: it almost happened.

The San Antonio Spurs, with one All-Star in Kawhi Leonard, were up 21 points on the Warriors in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. But then, Zaza Pachulia purposely slid under Kawhi on a shot from the left corner so that Kawhi would land on his foot.

Kawhi didn’t play again that series, but based on Game 1, it’s fair to say the Spurs had a great chance at defeating the Warriors. But whether it’s by their own doing, or another team’s doing (2015), intentional injuries have greatly benefited the Warriors.

How about the next year? Surely the 2018 Warriors would blow past everyone right?

The Houston Rockets almost beat the Warriors in that year’s Western Conference Finals. In fact, the Rockets led the series 3-2 before star point guard Chris Paul suffered an injury, sending him to the bench for the last two games of the series.

The Warriors would then steamroll a Kyrie-less Cavaliers team for their second straight championship.

Failing The Only Real Test

In the last year of the Kevin Durant era in Golden State, Kawhi Leonard got to exorcise his demon from 2017. In the 2019 NBA Finals, he met the Warriors again, this time as a member of the Toronto Raptors. As one of two All-Stars on that team, he led the Raptors to a title.

KD went down with an injury in Game 5, but the Warriors were already down 3-1. And…do you really mean to tell me that a team of Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond can’t beat Kawhi and Kyle Lowry, who only averaged 14.2 points per game that year?

If Curry is as legendary as people say, something is wrong with that picture. This also indicates that, if he remained healthy, Kawhi and the 2017 Spurs may very well have been able to defeat the Warriors.

For a team with four stars, and arguably two of the league’s top three to five players, no series should even be close. Yet the Warriors relied on injuries to opposing stars to help them win their championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

They didn’t prove themselves as the best team in the league in any of those three years. But at least Curry finally received a Finals MVP, right? Wrong. KD took that trophy home both years. Not only were the Warriors a fraudulent team, Curry couldn’t live up to the hype when the lights were brightest.

Credit Where It’s Due

Stephen Curry would lead his team to a title in 2022 and won his first Final MVP. Curry proved himself as a leader that year and cemented his spot in history.

That year’s Warriors didn’t just get by on opponents’ injuries. They won a legitimate championship. But until he improves his clutch play and leads his team to more non-cakewalk titles, he still has more to prove. The discussion of Steph Curry as a top-15 player of all time stops until further notice.

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