Honestly, it feels a little ridiculous when you actually say it out loud. Stephen Curry 4000 threes. Four thousand. That isn't just a big number; it is a statistical anomaly that shouldn't exist in a league that has been around for nearly eighty years. Most NBA players are lucky to finish a career with a few hundred. Some of the "great" shooters might sniff two thousand if they stay healthy and keep their rotation spot into their thirties. But what Steph did on that Thursday night in March 2025 against the Sacramento Kings basically broke the scale for how we measure greatness.
It wasn't even a particularly "Steph-like" night at first. He walked into Chase Center needing just two triples to hit the mark. The air was thick, everyone was standing every time he touched the rock, and the Kings were playing this weird, "gimmicky" defense. They were face-guarding him, top-locking, basically doing everything short of tackling him to stay out of the history books. He missed a few early. He looked human. Then, in the third quarter, he hit that shifty side-step we’ve seen a million times. Splash. 4,000.
Why the number 4,000 actually matters
Most people remember when he broke Ray Allen’s record of 2,973 back in 2021 at Madison Square Garden. That was the emotional peak. This? This is the endurance peak. Reaching 4,000 career triples means Curry didn't just get the record; he took it, went home, and built a fortress around it.
Look at the gap between him and everyone else. As of early 2026, he’s sitting way north of 4,200 now. James Harden is the only one even in the same zip code, and he's still nearly a thousand makes behind. To put that in perspective, a player would need to average 250 threes a season—which is a massive, league-leading type of year—for four straight years just to cover the distance between Curry and second place. It's safe to say this record isn't going anywhere in our lifetime.
The science behind the "obscene" volume
Steve Kerr called the number "obscene," and he’s right. It’s hard to wrap your brain around the sheer volume of shots required to make 4,000 of them. We’re talking about a guy who is currently closing in on 10,000 career attempts.
Most players would be benched if they took the shots Steph takes. He's shooting from the logo, off-balance, with two guys draped over his jersey. But because he maintains a career average of over 42%, the math always works in his favor. It changed the way every kid in every driveway in the world plays the game.
What people get wrong about the milestone
There’s a common argument that Steph only has these numbers because he plays in a "soft" era or a "3-point centric" league. That’s backwards. The league is 3-point centric because of him.
Before 2012, teams weren't building entire offensive schemes around the shot. He proved that the three-ball wasn't just a floor-spacer; it was a primary weapon. When he hit 402 in a single season in 2016, it was like someone brought a flamethrower to a knife fight.
- The Durability Factor: People forget he had "glass ankles" early in his career. If he hadn't figured out his body, he might have retired at 2,000.
- The "Golden Dagger": Even with 4,000 NBA makes, Steph himself has said the biggest shot of his life was actually for Team USA in Paris.
- The Age Curve: He hit the 4,000 mark at age 37. He isn't just hanging on; he’s still a top-tier scoring threat.
The road to 5,000?
Is 5,000 on the table? Maybe. His contract runs through the 2026-27 season. If he stays healthy and maintains his current pace of roughly 4-5 makes per game, he could realistically finish his career near the 5,000 mark. That's a territory no one even dreamed of twenty years ago.
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He’s currently the only player in history to have nine different seasons with at least 4 makes per game. For comparison, the rest of the NBA—every player who has ever put on a jersey—has a combined total of nine such seasons. He is, quite literally, a league of his own.
How to watch Steph's next chapter
If you want to appreciate what's left of this run, you've gotta look past the box score. Watch the off-ball movement. Watch how the entire defense shifts three feet toward him the second he crosses half-court.
To really understand the impact of Stephen Curry 4000 threes, you should:
- Check the tracking data: Look at his "gravity" stats. He creates more open space for his teammates than any player in history just by existing on the perimeter.
- Monitor the 3PA milestone: He is currently just a few games away from 10,000 career attempts. Watching how he reaches that volume while maintaining efficiency is a masterclass in conditioning.
- Study the efficiency splits: Most high-volume shooters see their percentages tank when they get older. Steph’s actually stayed remarkably consistent, hovering around 40-42% even with a higher degree of difficulty.
The best thing you can do right now is simply tune in. We are watching a historical outlier in his twilight years, and once he's gone, we likely won't see a "4K club" member for another few decades.