Stephen Curry vs. Shaquille O’Neal Career Comparison: The Greatest Shooter Against The Most Dominant Player In NBA History

After winning his fourth championship and his first Finals MVP Award, Golden State Warriors legend Stephen Curry has vaulted into the conversation amongst the top 10 greatest players of all time. While that top-10 is an exclusive group, even those players have a tier list amongst themselves. Being in this conversation means that you had a special career, but make no question that being near the top-5 is different from being ranked at No. 10 overall.

Two players that are in the top-10 include Curry and former Laker great Shaquille O’Neal. When debating these players in this tier, it can be tricky. Both players have enough hardware to fill a trophy case for one team. With that said, one player has to be considered better than the other. That is how rankings work. Despite Curry and O’Neal being different players, one is ranked higher than the other. Which player is that?

Let’s take a look at their career comparison and find out.

NBA Championships

Stephen Curry: 4 (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022)

Finals Record: 4-2

Shaquille O’Neal: 4 (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006)

Finals Record: 4-2

Curry has made six NBA Finals appearances. After the 2013-14 season, the Warriors fired Mark Jackson as their head coach and hired Steve Kerr. This was a career-altering move for Curry, who transformed into the league MVP in his first season with Kerr at the helm. Curry then helped the Warriors make the NBA Finals five straight seasons from 2015 to 2019.

The Warriors won championships in 2015, 2017, and 2018 during that span. The 73-win team in 2016 was defeated by the Cavaliers despite holding a 3-1 lead. The team also lost in 2019 to the Raptors but was faced with injury issues when both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson were hurt in the Finals. After two more years of battling injuries, the Warriors finally healed up, and Curry won his first Finals MVP Award in 2022 with a win over the Boston Celtics.

With O’Neal leading the way, the Los Angeles Lakers completed a three-peat from 2000 to 2002. O’Neal won three straight Finals MVP Awards during that time. The Lakers made the Finals again in 2004 but were defeated by the Pistons. After that, O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat, where he won a championship in 2006 with star Dwyane Wade. The Heat nearly made the Finals in 2005 but was defeated by the Pistons in the Conference Finals.

Wade was named the Finals MVP in 2006, but O’Neal had plenty to do with helping the team win their first championship in franchise history. O’Neal made the Finals when he was a member of the Magic in 1995, but the team was swept by the Houston Rockets in four games. O’Neal was outplayed by a much more experienced Hakeem Olajuwon.

Advantage: None

Finals MVP Awards

Stephen Curry: 1 (2022)

Shaquille O’Neal: 3 (2000, 2001, 2002)

In 2015, Curry might have been robbed of winning a Finals MVP. Iguodala won Finals MVP for his efforts on offense, scoring 16.3 points per game, as well as his defense on LeBron James.

Curry averaged 26.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. He also shot 44.3% from the field, 38.5% from three-point range, and 88.5% from the free-throw line. He was the only player on the team that scored more than a total of 100 points.

Curry missed out on Finals MVP in 2017 and 2018 as Kevin Durant won back-to-back times. For the 2022 Finals, there was no doubt who the winner would be. Curry averaged 31.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. He shot 48.2% from the field, 43.7% from three-point range, which included a game where he shot 0-9 from beyond the arc, and 85.7% from the free-throw line.

O’Neal was a leader of the three-peat Lakers. While the team had a great player in Kobe Bryant, it was O’Neal that won three straight Finals MVP Awards during that span. In 2000, he averaged 38.0 points, 16.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.0 steals, and 2.7 blocks in six games against the Pacers. It was a series that saw O’Neal shoot 61.1% from the field.

In the following Finals, O’Neal won the Finals MVP with a stat line of 33.0 points, 15.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 3.4 blocks while shooting 57.3% from the field. When the Lakers finished the three-peat, O’Neal averaged 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.8 blocks in a four-game sweep over the Nets. When looking at all three appearances, he was as dominant as it gets.

Advantage: Shaquille O’Neal

NBA MVP Awards

Stephen Curry: 2 (2015, 2016)

Shaquille O’Neal: 1 (2000)

Despite O’Neal being one of the most dominating centers in the league, Curry can say that he was the best player in the league more than once. He can also say that one of his MVPs was unanimous. Curry won his first MVP Award with a line of 23.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 2.0 steals. He also shot 48.7% from the field and 44.3% from the three-point range. The Warriors surged to 67 wins and the best record in the NBA, which also included a 39-2 mark at home. The following season, Curry became the first unanimous MVP in NBA history. The Warriors won a league record of 73 games. Curry averaged 30.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. He became a member of the exclusive 50-40-90 Club while leading the league in scoring and steals.

O’Neal won one MVP Award, and that was during the 1999-00 season. O’Neal averaged 29.7 points, 13.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 0.5 steals, and 3.0 blocks per game. His 57.4% shooting from the field led the league, as did his 956 made field goals. O’Neal led the league in total points and won the scoring race. According to the advanced stats, he swept the win shares crowns in offensive, defensive, and total, as well as win shares per 48 minutes, value over a replacement player, and player efficiency rating. He was truly the best player in the league in every avenue.

Advantage: Stephen Curry

All-NBA Teams

Stephen Curry: 8 (4 First Team, 3 Second Team, 1 Third Team)

Shaquille O’Neal: 14 (8 First Team, 2 Second Team, 4 Third Team)

Curry made the First Team in 2015, 2016, and 2019. Had Durant not come to the Warriors, he would have likely made the First Team every year during that stretch, but his touches decreased because of the addition of the superstar. Injuries kept Curry off the 2020 team, but last season Curry led the league in scoring to make his return to the All-NBA First Team. Curry was not like O’Neal when it came to dominating in the league right away. It took Curry about five years for him to turn into an All-Star.

O’Neal owns Curry’s number when it comes to the All-NBA Team, including doubling his amount of First Team selections. O’Neal made the First Team in 1998 and then every season from 2000 to 2006. He made the Second Team in 1995 and 1999 while making the Third Team in 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2009. O’Neal was also playing with the rules that one center was allowed on each team.

Advantage: Shaquille O’Neal

All-Star Selections

Stephen Curry: 8 All-Star Appearances, 1 All-Star Game MVP Award

Shaquille O’Neal: 15 All-Star Appearances, 3 All-Star MVP Awards

It took Curry five years to make his first All-Star team, which was in 2014. He then made a six-year run of making it. Had he not suffered a hand injury in 2020, he would have had a streak that would have been consecutive up to the present. His one All-Star Game MVP came in 2022 when he scored 50 points.

O’Neal broke onto the scene right away by making the All-Star team his rookie year. Then,

O’Neal made the All-Star team every season from 1993 to 1998. After the lockout, where no player made an All-Star team, he made the All-Star squad from 2000 to 2007 and then made one more appearance in 2009. O’Neal also won the MVP award three times, including sharing the award with his former teammate Kobe Bryant once. If Curry wanted to catch O’Neal in this category, he would have to keep making the All-Star Game after the age of 40.

Advantage: Shaquille O’Neal

All-Defensive Teams

Stephen Curry: 0

Shaquille O’Neal: 3 (3 Second Team)

Curry has never made an All-Defensive Team despite playing on some talented defensive Warriors teams. Curry led the league in steals in 2016 with 2.1 per game, but his supporting cast was a prime reason for that. The 2015-16 team had players like Klay Thompson and 2017 Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green, that disrupted players. Curry’s role was more on the offensive side than the defensive side.

O’Neal was never truly a poor defender. He was a better player on offense than he was on defense. Even so, he was good enough to make two All-NBA Defensive Second Teams.

From the 1992-93 season to the 2004-05 season, O’Neal averaged at least 2.0 blocks per game all but one time. O’Neal played in the same era as Dikembe Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning, and Ben Wallace. It’s hard to beat some of the greatest defending centers, who were all multi-winners of the Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Advantage: Shaquille O’Neal

Total Win Shares

Stephen Curry: 120.2

Shaquille O’Neal: 181.7

Again, Curry was a great offensive player in his own right too. Curry led the league in offensive win shares (13.8) and total win shares (17.9) during his unanimous MVP season in 2016. He also led the league in win shares per 48 minutes with .318. In 2015, he led the league in that category with .288. Of his total 87.6 offensive win shares, Curry combined for 25.3 during his two MVP years.

The wide margin that O’Neal holds in this category is surprising. Curry has won plenty of games for the Warriors, but that’s just how good Shaq was back in the day. When he won the MVP in 2000, he led the league in offensive (11.7), defensive (7.0), and total (18.6) win shares. He led the league in win shares per 48 minutes two times, in 2000 and 2002, while leading the league in win shares again in 2001. Curry might end up never surpassing O’Neal in this category, but it will be interesting to see how he closes the gap as he finishes his career.

Advantage: Shaquille O’Neal

Career Player Efficiency Rating (PER)

Stephen Curry: 23.83

Shaquille O’Neal: 26.43

Curry is the complete opposite of O’Neal. He will go down as the greatest shooter of all time, but three-point shooters have a great season when they shoot above 40% from behind the arc. That means that for every five shots, three are not going to go into the hoop. O’Neal was a player that could shoot 60% of the field. He was making at least one more shot on average than Curry. While it might come from two different spots on the field, efficiency is a metric that looks at how often you are successful at something.

Based on the high amount of win shares that O’Neal has, it is not surprising to see O’Neal have the advantage. It also plays into the fact that most players are going to have an edge here. The top-10 all-time players in this category feature seven true post players and could feature nine if you count the times that LeBron James and Kevin Durant were power forwards. If you look at his field goal percentage and blocked shorts alone, you can see why O’Neal has a high-efficiency rating.

Advantage: Shaquille O’Neal

Final Score

Stephen Curry vs. Shaquille O’Neal 1-6

Stephen Curry Is An Amazing Player, But Shaquille O’Neal Is Still A Tier Above Him

When you look at Curry, he is an amazing player that is not done proving to the league that he can win it all. It will not surprise anyone if Curry leads the Warriors to their fifth championship in his tenure, including back-to-back titles for the second time in his career. Curry will be 35 years old next season and continues to play like he is someone in his mid-20s. If Curry can win his fifth championship, it might vault him up to the top 5, which could pass O’Neal in the all-time rankings.

Both O’Neal and Curry have four titles, but O’Neal is in a different tier above him. When you look at the top 10, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Bill Russell, Tim Duncan, Larry Bird, and O’Neal are in a tier of their own. Curry, Kevin Durant, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Wilt Chamberlain are in a tier of their own, right below those players. James, Bird, and O’Neal do not have five titles like the other players, but there are reasons for their belonging in the tier above Curry. Bird won three titles and three straight MVP Awards, O’Neal won three straight Finals MVP Awards, while James is about to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

To make his way into the top seven, Curry will need to win another title and win another Finals MVP. If Curry can win his fifth title and his second Finals MVP, that would put him right in the same company as Duncan, which is a player that we often rank above O’Neal. For the time being, O’Neal is in a different category than Curry, as evidenced by all of the major comparison tools we use to measure. O’Neal currently leads Curry in all but one category.

We can take a look at some other influencing variables as well. O’Neal finished his career eighth on the all-time scoring list and made one three-point shot in his career. Curry is the greatest three-point shooter in NBA history and is currently ranked 47th on the all-time list. Granted, Curry is going to climb that list. Curry scored 1,630 points last season. Even if Curry averaged 1,500 points the next four seasons, he would be close to 2,000 points short of O’Neal and would be 38 years old. Curry will have to play into his 40s and still be a contributor for a team to catch O’Neal in the all-time scoring race.

It’s not completely asinine to think that all of that is possible. It’s going to be hard, but all of the great players accomplish something rather difficult in their careers. Curry is going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he retires. It’s going to be a matter of where he sits amongst those great players. For now, O’Neal is in a different category than Curry. However, all of that could change in the next few years. 

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