Tim Duncan
Stephen Curry
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Tim Duncan leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Tim Duncan at #8 and Stephen Curry at #11.
Head-to-head FAQ
Who leads more shared metrics?
How do the published ranks compare?
Are these live stats?
The case for Tim Duncan
The most reliable great player in NBA history and the anchor of the modern era's longest-running excellence. Duncan won five championships spread across three different decades of Finals — 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014 — with three Finals MVPs and back-to-back regular-season MVPs in 2002 and 2003. His 15 All-Defensive selections are the most ever, the statistical spine of a two-way case built on flawless positioning rather than highlights. The team record is the argument: San Antonio never missed the playoffs in his 19 seasons and won 71 percent of its regular-season games across his career — the best sustained run of any franchise in the four major American leagues over that span. His peak was higher than the humble reputation suggests: in the 2003 title run he averaged 24.7 points, 15.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 3.3 blocks in the Finals, closing with a near quadruple-double in the clincher. Career averages of 19.0 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks, delivered with identical temperament in November and June, made him the standard for winning without noise.
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.