Updated: Aug 26, 2020 4:33 pm
Max Kellerman made a bold statement referring to Damian Lillard as Stephen Curry who gets better in the playoffs. Stephen A. Smith referred to Dame as the best player in the world. These statements are…baffling. Damian Lillard is a top 10 player in the NBA and an elite offensive weapon. When the TrailBlazers are fully healthy they can be a championship caliber team. That being said, there is not a world where Damian Lillard is a better basketball player than Stephen Curry. It’s asinine, it’s stupid, and it’s flat out disrespectful to the Baby-Faced Assassin.
Stephen Curry is a Much Better Scorer than Damian Lillard
Steph Curry is known for his prolific three point shooting, being by far the best shooter ever. In terms of being a high volume efficient scorer he’s arguably the best ever. Steph Curry and Dame Lillard cannot compare in the scoring department.
| Player (Last 3 seasons) | PPG | TS% | 3P% | Offensive Rating |
| Steph Curry | 26.3 | 64.3% | 42.6% | 121 |
| Dame Lillard | 27.4 | 60.2% | 37.7% | 123 |
These numbers were Steph’s 2016-2019 seasons, not including this last season as he only played 9 games. Dame Lillard leads in PPG and Offensive Rating, but that’s because he had over 1,000 more minutes played than Steph. He plays more often as the Warriors really rest their players towards the end of that season. I killed Kawhi for volume, but that’s because he chooses to sit out, Steph sits out and takes less shots because it’s part of their offensive system with KD. When Steph is the alpha on the team, he is probably the most efficient scorer ever.
Better Defender than Damian Lillard
Steph Curry isn’t a great defender, but he’s certainly better than Lillard in that department as well. Steph leads in Defensive BPM, Defensive Rating, and Defensive Win Shares. While to most this won’t matter, it’s half of the game. He trounces Lillard in Defensive Win Shares and Defensive Rating. Lillard simply gives up a lot of perimeter shots, and Curry can defend the perimeter much better, and that’s very important for your team.
The Playoffs Show Stephen Curry is Much Better than Damian Lillard
Let’s take a look at some stats here:
| Postseason Stats | TS% | WS/48 | VORP |
| Stephen Curry | 60.9% | .194 | 9.5 |
| Damian Lillard | 54.8% | .095 | 3.0 |
What’s this? Dame Lillard (who’s very very good) is worse than Steph in the playoffs? The numbers and rings show that Steph is a significantly better player in the postseason than Stephen Curry is. Don’t say that it’s only because of KD, as even if you look at Stephen Curry before Kevin Durant arrived, he still leads Dame in all of those statistics. While Dame has way less minutes played, even if you adjust for that Steph is still better.
It’s simply not a debate and it’s disrespectful, Stephen Curry is, has been, and will always be better than Damian Lillard at basketball.
