???? Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs) ahead of Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) at 3-points… in three points

Wilt Chamberlain's 23,924 rebounds? Hakeem Olajuwon's 3,830 blocks? The 41,072 points of LeBron James who doesn't plan to stop there? The NBA is full of height records, which Victor Wembanyama (2.24m) will perhaps never be able to challenge, despite his talent. But the young French interior (20 years old) has taken the lead, in an area where historically smaller sizes reign: that of the number of successful 3-point shots.

Stephen Curry, absolute reference with 3,839 winning shots recorded in the regular season, needed 101 matches to reach the milestone of 200, straddling the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. “Wemby” did it in 94 matches, with a success rate significantly lower as of December 23, 2024: 201/603, or 33.3% effectiveness, compared to 200/458, or 43.7%. This chase, still far from being concrete, needs to be contextualized.

The spate of shots from the Wembanyama parking lot is, on the one hand, part of a global trend. Between Curry's arrival in the NBA in 2009 and that of the French phenomenon fourteen years later, the number of 3-point shots attempted more or less doubled. An explosion in which the “Chief” is a party, even if he is perhaps more of a symbol than a vector.

• Average number of 3-pts attempted per team per game

2024-25 regular season (in progress) : 37,6
SR 2023-24 : 35,1
SR 2022-23 : 34,2
SR 2021-22 : 35,2
SR 2020-21 : 34,6
SR 2019-20 : 34,1
SR 2018-19 : 32
SR 2017-18 : 29
SR 2016-17 : 27
SR 2015-16 : 24,1
SR 2014-15 : 22,4
SR 2013-14 : 21,5
SR 2012-13 : 20
SR 2011-12 : 18,4
SR 2010-11 : 18
SR 2009-10 : 18,1

In addition to a large environment conducive to shooting at everything behind the arc, Victor Wembanyama enjoys a special role within his franchise. Expected generational draft number 1, he was, from his rookie season, the first option for the San Antonio Spurs, with 16.7 attempts per game (2-pts and 3-pts combined, not counting missed shots causing a foul opponent). This total rises to 18.4 during the current financial year.

Drafted at No. 7 – nice move, right? –, Curry had less responsibility in his early days with the Warriors. Golden State was banking on Monta Ellis, as a “go-to guy” (22 shots). The future unanimous MVP followed, in the wheel of Stephen Jackson, with a little more than 14 shots. A similar total during his sophomore year.

But this statistic is not only the translation of an evolution of the NBA game, or of the prominence of Wembanyama in the Spurs game. It also illustrates the singularity of the game of a giant who claims to be different. The San Antonio pivot is the thirteenth most prolific player in 3-point attempts in the entire league, the only “big” in these heights.

Taking the beginning of November as a starting point – subtracting a timid start on his part in this area – he is even 7th, with almost ten shots attempted from distance per game, two more than Lauri Markkanen, the most interior close to him in this register. Victor Wembanyama plays in an NBA that has changed and he also aims to shape it. Hence this astonishing comparison with Curry.