Before Stephen Curry rose to stardom, the crown of the best 3-point shooter of all-time belonged to none other than Ray Allen for a lot of fans. After all, Allen held the NBA record for most 3-point shots made in history until Steph Curry broke it in the 2021-22 NBA season.
Even before that record to his name, in the last few years, Curry had already established himself as a better player than Allen in almost all categories. So the argument has now changed, and most fans believe that Allen is closer to Klay Thompson than he is to Steph.
Klay, like Steph, relies on his incredible ability to shoot three-pointers. The two players have shared the court for a long time and are regarded as one of the best backcourt duos in NBA history.
Anyway, coming back to the point, NBA fans are now debating who is a better player between Allen and Thompson? While recency bias might lead you to think that Klay is leaps and bounds clear of Allen, that might not be true. If you compare the major stats of the two in their respective primes, Klay only leads Allen in field goal and 3-point percentage.
Other than that, Ray Allen is ahead of Klay in almost every category. But you could make a point that for most of his career, Allen plays as the number one option. On the other hand, Klay has always been a second option to Steph.
This led to a huge debate among NBA fans. Here’s what most of the fans think about which is the better player between Allen and Thompson during the primes of their careers.
b.mcfly_: Klay is a better defender. Ray carried his team so I giving it to Ray Ray
theseangreen: It’s not even a Stats thing…. It is overall Game…. And Klay is one of my faves.
fbn.dnell: Ray Allen easily! & ima lifetime warriors fan but Ray and the Bucks & Sonics was a offensive beast.
cleversinceforever: Ray. Bigger bag and just as good a shooter. I like Klay too but we never saw what he had to do when he was the #1 option like Ray. That GS system helps a lot.
nel_your_results: Ray cause klay ain’t pass Allen numbers.
josh111520: Stop this nonsense. Klay is dope and really good but prime Ray clears and it’s not particularly close.
matthewlippa: No offense to klay but he is just a system catch and shoot player.
cam_blain: Klay was putting those numbers up as a number 2 and number 3. Ray was the number 1 option and klay avg damn near the same numbers.
christopher.cea: Is this even a question? Ray Allen would have scored 35 per game today. Just due to increased 3 point volume.
virginiasconfidential: Klay Was never the Shot Creator, dribbler, or Slasher Ray Allen Was.
duh.juan_: Definitely ray allen. I feel like the people that are saying klay must’ve watched ray Allen later in his career (bos-Mia) Milwaukee and Seattle ray Allen, was a legit bucket getter…no shade to klay, but he’s just a spot up shooter, 3 and D..nothing more nothing less.”
Almost unanimously, fans have commented in favor of Ray Allen. Of course, Thompson is a great player, and no one denies that. But due to the fact that he has never played out of the Warriors system, there is no data about how he’d play for a different team.
Allen, on the other hand, was a successful player for every team he played on. Additionally, aside from defense, Allen is certainly a better player than Klay in all other categories.
