The Tape
Was Steve Nash better than Stephen Curry?
Steve Nash, 1996-2015, 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 21.5 for Steve Nash in 2006-07. That is a real gap of 11.9 points, not an era illusion — Stephen Curry's league averaged 102.7 and Steve Nash's averaged 98.7.
Steve Nash is the passer: 11.6 assists a game to 6.7, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Steve Nash: Two MVPs for running the offense that the entire league copied within 10 years. Stephen Curry: The only unanimous MVP, and the player whose range changed where every team on earth stands.
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