By burying 1,559 of his 3,983 shots from three-point range, he has a three-point shooting percentage of 39.1%. By knocking down 5,778 baskets out of 12,237 tries, Irving has a 47.2% shooting percentage. He scores 24.5 pts per 36 minutes, as well as pulling in 4.1 rebounds and earning 6.0 assists in his NBA career. Irving was named a starter in 671 games, and in those games he owns an average of 23.4 points per outing and has amassed 15,712 points in total. However, the fact remains that what Twitter and Mike James deem as skill, Steph has the hard evidence to prove that he’s the more elite of these two historically elite guards.Kyrie Irving has played in 671 games in his pro basketball career and accounted for 23,045 minutes in those games. It’s also true that measuring skill is quite subjective. It’s true that Kyrie’s highlights and his post-up ability are Kobe-esque. So, when it comes to all the major statistical “skill” categories, Steph has Kyrie beat. Kyrie’s bag is perhaps the best in the history of the NBA, and he has a lower turnover percentage than Curry over the course of his career (2.6% to Curry’s 3.1%). When it comes to ball-handling, this can’t really be measured however, in my opinion, Kyrie is a better ball-handler than Steph. While Kyrie was also in the top 10 for points per clutch game during that time span, his field goal percentage was lower-29% in the clutch. What about (in Max Kellerman’s words) “when it matters most?” From 2015-2019, Curry did not let his FG% drop under 44% in the clutch, and was in the top 10 for points per clutch game. What about defense, you ask? Curry has averaged 1.7 steals per game over his career compared to Kyrie’s 1.4. Steph has averaged 4.6 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game over the course of his career, while Irving has averaged 3.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. When it comes to rebounding and assists, Curry has Kyrie statistically beaten in that category, too. Only 31% of the shots Kyrie has taken have been from three, and he’s made 39% of them over the course of his career. For Kyrie, though, the tree-pointer has been a much smaller part of his game, and a less efficient one, too. A whopping 49% of Steph’s shots taken over his career have been three-pointers, and he’s made 43% of them. When it comes to three-point shooting, Steph obviously has Kyrie beat by a landslide. However, Kyrie has shot a much larger volume from that distance (15% of shots taken as opposed to Curry’s 8%). Over the course of his career, Steph has shot 45% from 3-16 feet as opposed to Kyrie’s 44%. Steph also shoots a higher percentage from midrange than Kyrie does. In the past 5 seasons, Kyrie has only shot 3% more field goals from 0-3 feet than Steph-22% as opposed to Curry’s 19%. Now, granted, Kyrie has attempted more field goals in the course of his career from that distance than Steph (25% to Curry’s 17%), but the majority of Kyrie’s shots from inside the paint occurred at the beginning of his career. Over his career, Steph has shot 65% from 0-3 feet out, as opposed to Kyrie’s 61% from that same distance. Kyrie has been renowned as an other-worldly finisher at the rim, but he has actually shot a lower percentage at the rim in his career than Steph. When it comes to comparing “skill” stats, Curry beats out Kyrie in almost every category. After that, there’s less statistical factors to consider as well-ability to perform in the clutch, a player’s “bag”, athleticism, gravity, etc. It’s true that skill is a vague attribute to quantify, but when most think of a skilled basketball player, they take the main statistical categories into consideration: scoring, passing, rebounding, shooting efficiency, etc. So, are Durant and James right? Or do they even have a fair argument? In my opinion, they may have a fair argument, but they aren’t right.
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