When Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant teamed up a decade ago, their union created perhaps the most lethal scoring duo in NBA history and threatened to serve as the foundation of a dynasty that might have rivalled Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
Curry and Durant were both former MVPs and scoring champions in their primes, at 28 years old, when they began their first title chase together in 2016-17. As the Golden State Warriors raced out to a 20-3 start that fall, they were so thoroughly dominant that critics quickly deemed the pairing “unfair.”
Two key developments have followed those early days. The Curry and Durant partnership disbanded far sooner than anyone expected, while Curry and Durant, both now 38, have sustained elite play much longer than anyone anticipated.
The first point is well worn. After two championships and a torn Achilles, the nomadic Durant left the Bay Area to start fresh with the Brooklyn Nets. Curry, meanwhile, has become one of the NBA’s all-time single-franchise icons.
The second point has been overshadowed by LeBron James‘ record-setting longevity. As James has rewritten the record books and kept playing into his 40s, Curry and Durant have prospered late in their respective careers like few superstars before them.
With Curry’s Warriors and Durant’s Houston Rockets set to meet on Wednesday for the first time this season (9:30 p.m. ET), it is worth taking a moment to appreciate their remarkable staying power a full decade after they started torching the league as teammates.
Curry is rivalling his unanimous MVP season, 10 years on
Curry enters Wednesday averaging 30.6 points per game and shooting 45.6% on 3-pointers, a prime example of the adage that shooting helps you age well. The two-time MVP is making more 3s per game and shooting a higher percentage this season than he did during 2016-17, his first campaign alongside Durant.
Put another way, only one player in NBA history has matched Curry’s current 3-point volume (4.7 per game) and efficiency (45%) over an entire season. That player was Curry himself, during his 2015-16 unanimous MVP season.
Curry’s status as the best shooter ever is hardly the only part of his game that has aided his staying power. His physical fitness, ballhandling, poise and comfort within Golden State’s offence have all helped him keep producing like clockwork.
“Work ethic and good genes,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said earlier this week. “[Curry] has been blessed with a body that has held up. But he’s also earned that through his strength training, his conditioning, [and] his fitness level is just off the charts. It’s so remarkable at 38 to watch him still do what he does.”
Perhaps the most important change to Curry’s shot profile is how few of his 3-pointers are now self-created. During his 2016 MVP season, 55% of Curry’s 3s were assisted by teammates. That figure has steadily risen over the past five years to a career-high 74% this season.
Slowly but surely, Curry has traded some of his most grandiose shots, such as off-the-dribble 3s and transition bombs, for catch-and-shoot attempts. Curry still has to work awfully hard before the catch to free himself from attentive defences, however.
Curry’s continued hot shooting and Golden State’s ability to support him have him bending the typical age curve in a never-before-seen fashion. He has compared favourably with Hall of Fame point guards John Stockton and Steve Nash, as well as future Hall of Famers Chris Paul and James Harden, through his 30s.
Although Curry’s player efficiency rating (PER) has tended to outperform that group by a narrow margin for much of his 30s, his start to the season has left him in a class by himself. His 33.9 PER to date easily surpasses the age-38 figures for James (23.9), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (22.7), Tim Duncan (22.6) and Michael Jordan (20.7).
Regression, perhaps significant regression, is reasonable to expect as the season unfolds, so Curry’s performance to date must not be taken for granted. Next-generation stars Luka Doncic and Victor Wembanyama have earned most of the early MVP buzz, but Curry deserves a place in that conversation given his electric start and Golden State’s winning record despite serious injury issues.
Curry’s value to the Warriors extends well beyond his on-court production, but the franchise could not ask for a better return on the two-year, $116 million extension it granted him in September. That deal will carry Curry through his age-40 season, and Golden State should have every reason to believe he will surpass Stockton as the most productive guard to play past that milestone.
Durant’s steady scoring and how high he could climb
By the most basic measures, Durant’s career has been less charmed than Curry’s since their split. While Curry cemented his status as a Bay Area legend and led the Warriors to the 2022 championship, Durant has moved from the Nets to the Phoenix Suns and now to the Rockets. Since tearing his Achilles during the 2019 Finals, in his last game with the Warriors, the 16-time All-Star forward has not returned to the conference finals.
Durant’s 30s have still been remarkable. He has arguably produced the most successful comeback from an Achilles tear in NBA history, and he continues to rank among the league’s most productive forwards for his age as he approaches 40.
“I was just hoping to get to 10 years,” Durant said earlier this season. “You just hear the statistics of how short your life is as an NBA player. I took heed to all that information early on, and I just wanted to approach every day like it was my last. … After 10 years, I just wanted to keep it going as long as I can.”
Last season, Durant earned All-NBA second-team honours by averaging 26 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists for the Rockets. Like Curry, Durant’s scoring craftsmanship has been essential to his late-career success, and he nearly achieved a hallowed 50/40/90 shooting season in 2025-26. Add it all up, and his 21.1 PER last season ranked third all time among forwards at age 37, trailing only James (26.2) and Karl Malone (24.7).
Durant’s trajectory since returning from his Achilles injury compares favourably with James and Malone, and it clearly outpaces Dirk Nowitzki, the Hall of Famer who sets the gold standard for late-career productivity among forwards. That relatively gradual decline suggests Durant has several more years of high-level basketball ahead of him.
Although Houston has sharply reduced his role to start this season in hopes of creating a more balanced offence, Durant is averaging 21.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists. He remains on track to pass Kobe Bryant for fourth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list later this season.
Durant is also 5,559 points shy of passing Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s No. 2 all-time scorer, behind James. To make up that ground, he would need to score 20 points per game and play about 280 more games. That is difficult, but not impossible.
At his current scoring pace, with reasonably good health, Durant would be poised to move past Abdul-Jabbar during his age-42 season. For comparison, James is currently in his age-42 season with the Philadelphia 76ers. Even if Durant falls short of Abdul-Jabbar, he should be closing in on Malone for third place by the time his current contract expires after the 2027-28 season.
When Curry’s Warriors visit Durant’s Rockets on Wednesday, the meeting will serve as a de facto 10-year anniversary of their 2016 partnership. After all these years, the Warriors are still dreaming of another deep playoff run, and the Rockets have assembled enough young talent around Durant to chase their own. The end is getting closer for these former teammates, but it is not yet in sight.