The NBA has had plenty of eras defined by faces, franchises, and philosophies. Kevin Garnett’s argument is that this one has been defined by something simpler and far more contagious: the three-point shot, taken with total freedom because one player proved it could be the foundation of winning.
On a recent episode of KG Certified, Garnett said it plainly:
“I’ve said this countless times. I think that we’re in the Curry era. He is the GOAT of this era.”
Then Garnett delivered the line that crystallizes what he means by “Curry era,” turning Steph into a figure of basketball mythology.
“Talking about the long ball and the three ball you got to talk about the messiah of that long ball,” Garnett said.
Kevin Garnett says we are in the Curry era and that Steph Curry is the GOAT of this era:
“Talking about the long ball and the three ball you got to talk about the messiah of that long ball”
(h/t @NBA__Courtside)
— Guru (@DrGuru_) December 24, 2025
Garnett isn’t making a traditional GOAT case built on total career volume or a comparison across every decade. He’s arguing influence. Curry didn’t just become the greatest shooter ever; he changed what teams consider reasonable offense and what defenses are forced to guard. The modern game’s spacing, the willingness to let guards fire off the dribble from deep, and the league-wide comfort with math-driven shot selection all trace back to the Warriors’ rise and Curry’s gravitational pull.\
That’s why Garnett’s “GOAT of this era” framing is different from the all-time debate that usually turns into LeBron-versus-Jordan trench warfare. It’s less about who is the best basketball player in a vacuum and more about who authored the blueprint everyone else now lives inside. Even Curry’s contemporaries have built rosters and offensive identities in response to the world he created, whether by trying to replicate it or by designing defenses to survive it.
The statement also lands because it’s coming from Garnett, an icon of an earlier NBA that was far more physical, far less spaced, and far more skeptical of the three as a primary weapon. If someone from that generation is calling Curry the “messiah” of the long ball, it’s not just praise, it’s an admission that the sport’s center of gravity has moved permanently.
Whether you agree with Garnett’s label or not, the conclusion is hard to fight: the NBA’s modern identity, how it’s played, how it’s coached, how it’s watched, has been shaped by Curry more than any other player of the last decade-plus. Garnett is simply putting a name on what the league has been living through the whole time.
