Larry Bird
Stephen Curry
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Larry Bird leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Larry Bird at #7 and Stephen Curry at #11.
Head-to-head FAQ
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The case for Larry Bird
The greatest forward of his era and the most complete offensive skill set of the pre-analytics age. Bird won three straight MVPs from 1984 to 1986 — a feat otherwise achieved only by Russell and Chamberlain — and three championships with two Finals MVPs, anchoring Celtics teams that won 60-plus games five times. His career line of 24.3 points, 10.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists is the classic all-around forward profile, and he was decades ahead of the sport as a shooter: two 50-40-90 seasons, in 1986–87 and 1987–88, when the feat was nearly unheard of, plus the first three Three-Point Contest titles. The 1985–86 Celtics, with Bird at his apex, went 67–15 and are routinely listed among the half-dozen best teams ever assembled. His trash-talking clutch resume — the 1981 comeback against Philadelphia, the steal of Isiah Thomas's inbound pass in the 1987 Eastern finals — and his rivalry with Magic Johnson, meeting in three Finals, carried the league's renaissance. Chronic back injuries ended his prime early; at his best, only Jordan was clearly better.
The case for Stephen Curry
The most influential player of the modern era and the man who repriced the sport. Curry has won four championships with Golden State (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022), two regular-season MVPs — including the first unanimous MVP in league history in 2016 — and the 2022 Finals MVP that answered the last question about his resume. He is the greatest shooter who has ever lived by a wide margin: the all-time leader in three-pointers made, past 4,000 and climbing, having broken Ray Allen's career record in December 2021 with hundreds of games in hand. His 2015–16 season paired 30.1 points per game with a then-record 402 threes and powered a 73–9 team that broke the 1996 Bulls' win record. The deeper case is systemic — his off-ball movement and 30-foot range force defenses to guard the entire halfcourt, warping coverages without the ball and accelerating the three-point revolution more than any player since the shot clock. Rankings that omitted him a decade ago now routinely seat him among the ten greatest ever.