What were Steph Curry's stats during his rookie year? All you need to know

Golden State Warriors superstar point guard Steph Curry has had an extremely illustrious 14-year NBA career. Curry is a four-time champion, two-time MVP and the league’s all-time leader in made 3-pointers, among countless other accolades. His elite shooting dates back to his rookie season with the Warriors in the 2009-10 NBA season.

Curry fell all the way down to seventh in the 2009 NBA Draft. That came following concerns that his size and speed would prevent him from succeeding in the NBA. Players selected before Curry included eventual NBA stars Blake Griffin and James Harden, as well as notorious draft busts Hasheem Thabeet and Jonny Flynn.

It certainly didn’t take long for Curry to make his case that he should have been drafted higher. In his first career game on October 28, 2009, against the Houston Rockets, he scored 14 points to go with seven assists and four steals while shooting 7-for-12 (58.3%). Curry didn’t make a single three in his first game, but he looked very comfortable offensively.

Steph Curry went on to average 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.9 steals and 2.1 3-pointers per game over 80 games as a rookie.

However, it was his efficiency that really stood out, he Curry finished with a hyper-efficient shooting split of 46.2/43.7/88.5. His 43.7% 3-point percentage ranked seventh in the league in 3-point percentage for the season. Curry trailed only established NBA 3-point sharpshooters such as Kyle Korver and Mike Miller.

In terms of rookie records, Curry set the then-NBA record for most 3-pointers made by a rookie in a single season (166).

Overall, Curry showed multiple flashes of superstardom as his rookie season ended up being a preview of what was to come in his career.

On April 14, 2010 against Portland, Curry set his rookie season-high, scoring 42 points with nine rebounds and eight assists on 13-for-25 (52.0%) shooting. That marked one of eight games in which Curry scored 30-or-more points as a rookie. He also finished with 27 games with 20-or-more points.

However, despite his efficient scoring and all-around excellence as a rookie, Steph Curry did not win the 2010 Rookie of the Year Award.

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Who beat out Steph Curry to win 2010 Rookie of the Year award?

Former Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans

Steph Curry likely would have won ROTY in most seasons, given his stats as a rookie. However, he was edged out in the 2010 ROTY vote by then-Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans, the fourth pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

Evans ended his rookie season with averages of 20.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game on 45.8% shooting. However, he also shot just 25.5% from the three and 74.8% at the line.

The final vote count for the 2010 ROTY award had Evans finishing with 67 first-place votes and 491 total points. Curry finished second with 43 first-place votes and 391 total points.

Unlike Steph Curry, who went on to dominate the league, Evans ended up peaking as a rookie. He never averaged 20-or-more points per game in a season again throughout his ten-year NBA career. So it’s safe to say that Curry ended up getting the last laugh between the two.

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