Not only did the Golden State Warriors fall to an embarrassing 51-point defeat and their ninth loss in 11 games, but Stephen Curry produced one of the worst performances of his career in Thursday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Curry scored just two points on 0-of-7 shooting from the floor and 0-of-6 from 3-point range against the Grizzlies, marking the first game of his career where he's failed to make a field goal in at least 12 minutes of action.
Fans are starting to have an inevitable Stephen Curry conversation
It's not necessarily that Curry had an historically woeful performance against Grizzlies, but more so that it comes amid an incredibly rough stretch for the 2x MVP. Since his blistering 37-point performance against the Dallas Mavericks on November 12, Curry has averaged just 20.8 points on less than 42% shooting from the floor across his last 13 games.
The 10x All-Star is now averaging 22 points for the season -- to put that into context, his lowest scoring average in the past nine years was 25.3 points per game (exluding the injury ravaged 2019-20 season).
Curry's reached the point of his career where any extended stretch of underwhelming form will inevitably bring conjecture on what he can do moving forward. Is this just a mere lean run for the Golden State superstar that he'll eventually break out from, or are we seeing the first signs of a significant decline?
I don’t think the Warriors need to find a second scorer anymore, I think they definitely need a FIRST scorer. Let Steph Curry comfortably be the second scorer, especially with the way teams are guarding him. The physical rigors of trying to shake off 20-something year olds…
— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) December 20, 2024
From Paul George and Lauri Markkanen in the offseason to the latest speculation around Jimmy Butler, so much of the trade discussion over the past six months has been about getting Curry a legitimate number two option.
But what if, as the above tweet suggests, the Warriors actually need a lead option that can take far more pressure off Curry? Perhaps the more important question to ask (and an uncomfortable one) is whether the 36-year-old can still be the best player on a championship team?
Golden State should still be acting in a way that reflects a unanimous yes to that question. This is someone who just led Team USA to an Olympic Gold Medal with back-to-back huge performances in the Semi-final and Final, proving Curry can remain a dominant force on the biggest stage.
Maybe we're in the early stages of a major Curry decline, maybe we're not. Either way the franchise's greatest ever player deserves more opportunity before that becomes definitive, and in the meantime the Warriors must retain faith that Curry, with a stronger supporting cast, can lead them to a fifth championship in the past decade.