Luka Dončić on Pace To Break Steph Curry’s Unthinkable Record
One could argue that good team defense still wins championships. Anyone who’s watched enough modern basketball, however, knows that you also live and die by the three-pointer. If you don’t have legitimate shooters on your roster, good luck.
The three-point shot has been a part of the game since the 1979-80 season. Even so, the popularity of the shot really took off thanks to one man: Stephen Curry. When Curry burst onto the scene, shooting the lights out from deep while simultaneously leading his team to championships, it altered how the rest of the league viewed the game.
Three-pointers attempted skyrocketed league-wide, even to the point where people who covered the game even suggested moving the three-point line further back. Regardless, we now have an NBA riddled with gifted shooters, even seven-footers.
At the peak of Steph Curry’s powers in the 2010s, he initially broke Ray Allen’s record for most three-pointers in a season in 2013. He then broke his own record in 2016, which still stands today at 402. Curry now owns four of the top-five seasons in threes as well as six of the top-10.
The Lakers’ Luka Dončić has also been on quite a tear from deep to begin this season. He’s averaging nearly six made threes a night on 42%. Insane numbers. Luka Dončić has been so incredible from deep that he’s slowly but surely on pace to break Steph Curry’s unthinkable record.
Luka Dončić on Pace to Pass Steph Curry for NBA History
Obviously, yes, it’s incredibly early in the season. Injuries can happen, and cold streaks can happen. The numbers we’re seeing from Luka Dončić right now are not guaranteed to last. However, if they do last, Dončić is on pace to make history.
At his 5.8 3PM per game currently, that would put him at 472 threes this season. That number would shatter Steph Curry’s record. For reference, the distance from Curry to James Harden at number two is 24 threes. A separation of 70 would put Curry out of sight in the rearview.
— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 9, 2026
If he’s on pace for 472 threes, Dončić even has a bit of wiggle room to play with. If he’s able to remain at roughly six 3PM per game, he could miss 10 more games and still finish with 418.
If he continues to lead the Lakers to the 1st-seed, and breaks the single-season record for most threes made, I’m not sure how you don’t award him the MVP. And if he wins the MVP on top of all that, we may need to start discussing where he stands in the greatest seasons of all-time.
