Seth Curry Is Finally Stepping out of His Brother’s Massive Shadow and Making a Name for Himself
The Philadelphia 76ers were dealt a bad hand to start the year. First, Ben Simmons continues to be away from the team with no end in sight. Then recently, Joel Embiid tested positive for COVID-19, forcing him to miss the next several games. Fortunately, the Sixers have been able to not only survive but thrive, thanks to the sharpshooting of Curry. No, not the two-time MVP across the country in Golden State. Instead, it’s been Seth Curry breaking out and creating a reputation outside of being Steph’s younger brother.
Seth Curry has always been in Steph’s shadow
It’s not surprising seeing two brothers, with a former NBA player as a dad, both make it to the pros. But Stephen and Seth couldn’t have veered any further apart in their journey to the top.
Steph, who’s older by just under two-and-a-half years, was a star at Davidson College before becoming the Warriors’ seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. He was an All-Star by his fifth season and champion by his sixth. Now, the elder Curry boasts two MVPs, two scoring titles, and three championships in his Hall of Fame-worthy career.
While Steph was one of the NBA’s best players, Seth was just trying to make it to the league. The younger Curry starred for a year at Liberty University before transferring to Duke for three seasons. However, despite starting his junior and senior years, he went undrafted in 2013. For the next two years, Seth played the vast majority of his career in the D-League (now the G League), seeing just four games of NBA action with three teams.
Finally, Curry was able to earn an extended look in 2015-16 with the Sacramento Kings, playing in 44 games. All while older brother Steph was leading the Warriors to a 73-9 record about 80 miles away. Seth then parlayed that into a two-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks.
The younger Curry is having a career season
Even before this season, Seth has proven himself as a legitimate NBA player. He has averaged double-digit points in three of the last four seasons and a 45.0% clip or better from three in the past three campaigns. But 2021-22 has seen the younger Curry play better than ever.
Through 11 games, Seth is averaging 16.8 points on an incredible 58.3% shooting percentage. With over five attempts per game, Curry is also hitting 48.3% of his threes, which entering Tuesday is the third-best rate of anyone attempting more than four triples a game.
Before coming to the Sixers, Seth started just 78 of a possible 256 games. Now, he is Philly’s unquestioned starting shooting guard. Curry has started all 11 games for the Sixers, averaging 33.4 minutes a night. Head coach and father-in-law Doc Rivers explained why the 76ers felt comfortable with Seth entering the opening lineup.
“We saw him as a starter because of his shooting,” Rivers told Yahoo. “You play him with Joel Embiid and we just thought that combination was a good combination. JJ Redick was a great starter with Joel so when you put a shooter like that next to Joel, you become a great shooter.”
Seth Curry is out-shooting Steph Curry
When Seth was simply trying to make it in the league, the two brothers were worlds apart. But now that both of Dell Curry’s sons are succeeding, it’s worth pitting them against each other. And right now, the younger brother holds an advantage or two.
Of course, Steph is Steph. The 33-year-old just put together a 50-point, 10-assist game to raise his season average to 27.6 points. But he’s also taking close to twice as many shots as Seth, who’s averaging close to 17 points on 10.9 shots. Meanwhile, the Sixers guard owns a 15-point advantage in field-goal percentage and a 10-point advantage on threes.
The difference in shooting is not just this season, either. Over the past three years, Seth is hitting around 45.0% of his threes. In the last three seasons, Steph is averaging about 37.6%, just under his 38.8% clip in 2021-22. Granted, the former MVP attempts a lot more and gets far more attention from defenders.
That being said, you can make a legitimate case that Seth has left his brother’s shadow and become a better shooter in the process. Should he keep it up, we could maybe see two Currys in an All-Star Game.
All statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference.
