The Golden State Warriors have seen Stephen Curry age in a way that doesn’t really make sense for a perimeter scorer, and his latest eruption only added to that résumé.
On Sunday, December 14, against the Portland Trail Blazers, Curry poured in 48 points with 12 made threes, and reports noted the performance pushed him past Michael Jordan for the most 40-point games after age 30.
For clarity, that “after 30” comparison is based on regular-season games, not playoffs. Even with that caveat, the broader point remains the same: Curry’s ability to produce massive scoring nights deep into his 30s has reached historic territory.
Most 40-Point Games After Age 30:
1. Stephen Curry: 45 games
2. Michael Jordan: 44 games
3. Damian Lillard: 31 games
4. James Harden: 30 games
5. Kobe Bryant: 30 games
Steph Curry sitting on top of this list matters because it’s not just “he’s still good.” It’s that his best nights, the ones that decide games on their own, keep showing up deep into his 30s.
Passing Jordan here is the kind of stat that sounds like trivia until you remember how absurd it is to keep producing 40-point explosions once your legs aren’t 24 anymore.
And it’s not like the names underneath him are random, either. Damian Lillard and James Harden both built entire primes around massive usage and huge scoring nights, and Kobe Bryant had the ultimate green light for years.
Curry beating out all of them in the 30+ bracket basically screams the same thing every defense has learned the hard way: if his jumper is alive, age doesn’t get a vote.
The real separator is how Curry’s scoring scales. Some stars need more physical advantage as the years stack up. Curry’s advantage is geometry. When the shot is falling, it doesn’t matter if it’s the first quarter or the fourth, or if the calendar says he’s past 30. The math stays the same, and teams still panic the same way.
Most 45-Point Games After Age 30:
1. Stephen Curry: 23 games
2. Michael Jordan: 18 games
3. James Harden: 12 games
4. Damian Lillard: 8 games
5. LeBron James: 8 games
This list is where the Curry thing stops being “longevity” and turns into straight-up separation. Forty-point games can come from a hot night plus volume. But 45+ usually means you didn’t just have it going, you basically broke the defense for 48 minutes.
What’s also telling is who shows up behind him. Harden and Lillard both had stretches where they lived in that ultra-high-usage scoring world, yet Curry still clears them by a mile in the 45+ category. And LeBron James tying Lillard at eight is impressive in a different way, because his scoring peaks usually came with him also controlling everything else on the floor.
At this point, it’s not even about comparing styles. It’s about the reality that Curry’s scoring eruptions age incredibly well because the shot travels. Athleticism fades. Burst fades. The jumper doesn’t, and when Curry’s jumper is on, 45 points isn’t an outlier; it’s just what happens when a defense runs out of answers.
Most 50-Point Games After Age 30
1. Stephen Curry: 10 games
2. James Harden: 7 games
3. Wilt Chamberlain: 7 games
4. Damian Lillard: 6 games
5. Michael Jordan: 6 games
This is the real “are you kidding me?” tier. Forty-point nights happen when a star gets hot. Fifty-point nights usually mean the defense knew exactly what was coming, threw the whole kitchen sink at it, and still got cooked anyway.
Curry having 10 of those after 30 is basically him turning the hardest scoring milestone into something that looks repeatable.
And the context matters here too. LeBron James sits seventh with 4 of these games after 30, which is still insane for anyone not named LeBron, but it also shows the gap Curry has created in the pure explosion category.
Same deal with Kobe Bryant, who only logged 2 50-point games after 30. That’s how rare this actually is, even for all-time scorers with unlimited green lights.
Why Curry Can Age Like This (And Nobody Else Can)
Michael Jordan and LeBron are the two most famous physical outliers the league has ever had. But Curry’s thing is different.
He doesn’t need to win the possession with vertical pop. He doesn’t need to truck a defender to get downhill. He doesn’t need a whistle buffet to stack points.
He needs space. And the second the defense gives him an inch, it turns into three points. Then it turns into a heat-check. Then it turns into a full-on arena panic.
That’s why Curry’s scoring “old man game” still looks like a flamethrower. His weapon doesn’t dull with age the same way athletic advantages do. If anything, his feel gets sharper.
Curry isn’t limping to these numbers on ugly efficiency. He’s still putting up star-level production right now.
In the 2025-26 season, Curry is averaging 29.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists, shooting 48.4% from the field, 41.2% from three, and 90.7% from the line.
That’s not “surviving.” That’s still terrorizing defenses. And his most recent stretch shows how quickly he flips the switch. Over his last few games logged, he posted:
48 vs Trail Blazers (12-of-19 from three)
39 vs Timberwolves (December 12)
38 vs Trail Blazers (November 21)
Plus, earlier season eruptions like 49 and 46 vs the Spurs (November 12 and 14)
That’s the cheat code: most stars have a “good night” at 30+. Curry has “I just ended your game plan” nights.
The Warriors Still Need Him To Do This
Here’s the part that almost feels unfair: Curry drops 48, and the Warriors still lose.
That Trail Blazers game was a 136-131 loss, and it knocked the Warriors to 13-14, below .500.
That’s the story of this Warriors season in one sentence: Curry has to go supernova for them to even look normal, and even that doesn’t guarantee anything.
Golden State sits 8th in the West right now, floating in that annoying middle zone where you’re not tanking, but you’re not scaring anybody either.
And when you’re living like that, these Curry outbursts stop being fun highlights and start feeling like a warning sign: they’re wasting nights that should be auto-wins.
Final Thoughts
People love arguing rings, legacy, aura, and that stuff, but this record hits a simpler truth:
No superstar in NBA history has stayed this capable of dropping 40, 45, and 50 after 30 the way Curry has. Not Jordan. Not LeBron. Nobody.
And if the Warriors don’t figure out how to turn these historic scoring nights into actual momentum, this season is going to end with the same depressing headline: Steph did something ridiculous, and it didn’t matter enough.
