The Tape
Was Dirk Nowitzki better than Stephen Curry?
Dirk Nowitzki, 1998-2019, 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
Adjusted to a league averaging 114 points a game, Stephen Curry is the bigger scorer: 33.4 a game in 2015-16 against 31.3 for Dirk Nowitzki in 2005-06. That is a real gap of 2.1 points, not an era illusion — Stephen Curry's league averaged 102.7 and Dirk Nowitzki's averaged 97.
Dirk Nowitzki wins the glass by 3.6 rebounds a game (9 to 5.4), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Stephen Curry is the passer: 6.7 assists a game to 2.8, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Dirk Nowitzki: The 7-footer who made the fadeaway jumper a franchise, 10 years before every big man had to shoot. Stephen Curry: The only unanimous MVP, and the player whose range changed where every team on earth stands.
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