The Tape
Was Allen Iverson better than Stephen Curry?
Allen Iverson, 1996-2010, against Stephen Curry, 2009-present. The numbers levelled to one league, then the call.
Method, stated plainly: scoring is adjusted to a league averaging 114 points per team per game. Rebounds and assists are printed as they were recorded, with the league scoring rate beside them, because a rebound in 1962 came out of a different number of missed shots and we will not pretend one multiplier fixes that. Career lines for active players run through 2024-25.
What the numbers say
Both are small guards who reorganised a league. Iverson did it by proving a 6-foot scorer could carry an offense; Curry did it by moving the arc 4 feet further out in everybody's head.
Iverson's 2005-06 adjusts to 38.8 points a game, which is the highest adjusted figure of any guard in this file, and it comes with 42.5% shooting. Curry's 2015-16 adjusts to 33.4 on the most efficient volume shooting ever recorded.
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Read the file: Allen Iverson
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