Golden State Warriors: Reviewing Stephen Curry’s shooting “slump”

Stephen Curry is no ordinary shooter. If there is one thing the Golden State Warriors superstar has proven over the course of his career, it is that he is undoubtedly the greatest 3-point marksman the game of basketball has ever seen.

Because of this, a shooting slump from Curry is a bit different from the slumps that have plagued mere mortal men. Curry is having the worst 3-point shooting season of his career at just under 40 percent — and he’s in the midst of a career-bad slump.

Stephen Curry has found himself in a rut from deep and his inefficiency lately has been hurting the Golden State Warriors.

To reiterate, Curry is still among the best in the league even when he is off his mark. A career built off punishing opponents from deep is not erased by one cold spell and we certainly do not expect this trend to continue all season long.

Yet, it’s worth taking a deeper look at. Curry is in an unusual slump from deep and the Warriors have felt the pain from this blow.

Stephen Curry’s recent woes

On Nov. 30, Curry put up the worst shooting performance of his career, going just 4-of-21 overall and 3-of-14 from deep against Phoenix.

A few games later, he nearly replicated this night by shooting 3-of-14 from deep and 6-of-20 from the field versus Philadlephia.

Fast forward to January 2022 and Curry is shooting below 30 percent from behind the arch. He posted a 1-for-10 night against the Miami Heat, followed by a 1-of-9 clunker in Dallas. His 2-of-9 performance versus Memphis cost them the game while his 2-of-6 shooting in Milwaukee led to a dominant win for the Bucks.

In the 18 games since Curry’s career-low night, the Warriors have gone just 12-6. The Dubs also dropped two games in which Curry did not play during this stretch. To no surprise, Golden State lost each time Curry struggled — excluding the Miami game.

Where do we go from here?

I’ll be honest, Stephen Curry could shoot 0-for-100 for the next few months and I’d still feel confident he’ll find his touch from deep again. He’s that gifted and a 20-game stint of shooting below average is nothing Curry can’t overcome.

Curry still leads the NBA in 3-pointers made since Nov. 30 at 81 total makes. He’s shooting just 34.3 percent — which is bad for Curry, but just barely behind the NBA league average of 35.4 percent.

Still, the Warriors will be hoping for the two-time MVP to return to form sooner, rather than later. The mid-point of the season is approaching in February and it should mark an opportunity for Golden State to regroup and focus on building momentum toward the playoffs.

On the bright side, the law of averages would say were are in for a righteous return from Curry sometime soon.