Former NBA player David West got to play alongside Stephen Curry at the end of his career, and he recently had some high praise for the Golden State Warriors superstar. West made an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio, where he spoke about Curry playing at the point guard position.
“Well, I think Steph carries the position of point guard, but Steph is probably redefined what a scoring guard is,” West said. “He’s not a shooting guard, right? Because that would be more traditional. He’s a scoring lead-guard.
“Anytime you got a guy that’s averaging over 30 at any position, he’s a scorer,” West continued. “And that’s his duty. And I don’t think Steph would have the impact that he’s had if he was a guy looking to get 10-12 assists a game, and making all these hockey assists. That’s just not who he is. He’s been a scorer.
“Yeah, I’d probably say Steph played the point guard position,” West added. “But Steph is probably the greatest scoring guard we’ve seen, especially being somebody that’s been put in that point guard position.”
Curry has averaged 24.8 points per game for his career and won two scoring titles in 2016 and 2021. The 11-time All-Star averaged 30.1 points per game in 2015-16 to win MVP unanimously and then put up 32.0 points per game in 2020-21.
As an added bonus, Curry’s scoring has contributed to winning as well. He led the Warriors to championships in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022. West was a part of those title-winning teams in 2017 and 2018, and you’d imagine he wouldn’t have thought Curry would still be producing at a high level almost a decade later.
Curry remains an elite scorer today, despite being in his 17th season. The 37-year-old is averaging 27.9 points per game for the Warriors in 2025-26, and you’d reckon he can keep this up for a little while longer.
While Curry has been an incredible scorer, there are a couple of others who you could argue should be in the conversation for greatest scoring guard, by West’s definition.
Allen Iverson is the first name that comes to mind. Iverson averaged 26.7 points per game for his career and won four scoring titles. Only Michael Jordan (10) and Wilt Chamberlain (7) have won more.
Russell Westbrook is another who deserves a mention. Westbrook has averaged 21.1 points per game for his career and won two scoring titles in 2015 and 2017. He is ahead of both Curry and Iverson on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
You can also throw Oscar Robertson into this conversation, but he might have been a little bit more in the mould of a traditional point guard compared to the three others. Still, Robertson averaged 25.7 points per game over his career and posted over 30 points a game in six seasons. So, there is stiff competition here, and you can’t really go wrong picking any of them.
