Stephen Curry is 10 points away from reaching 15,000 career points, a milestone that he'll likely reach Monday when the Golden State Warriors take on the Grizzlies at home.
While Curry has made most of his damage as a scorer in the back half of his career, he has kept a fair perspective of just how impactful career milestones are, considering the fragile state of an NBA career.
“I remember my dad bringing his 10,000th point basketball when he played for Charlotte. That was like year … 13 for him, 13th or 14th … and that was my first realization of how hard it was to sustain yourself in the NBA and kind of measuring yourself against other guys who can put the ball in the basket routinely.
Curry said his father, Dell, kept his 10,000th-point basketball in his home in Charlotte, along with the Sixth Man of the Year award he won in 1994.
Dell scored a total of 12,670 points in his career (averaged 11.7 points per game through 16 NBA seasons) as a role player in the league. Steph has not only surpassed his father, but could be in line to double Dell's career scoring tally depending on the pace he scores at.
Curry noted he didn't keep his 10,000th-point basketball, and when asked if he would keep any particular scoring milestone, he said:
“I don't know, I haven't really thought about it, to be honest with you,” said Curry. “Maybe the message is to keep the one tonight and appreciate it.”
While many expect Curry to reach 20,000 points before his career is done, the fragility of NBA careers have seen wilder stories come to an end prematurely, and given the NBA's history of freak injuries, it'd be wise to hold onto every piece of memorabilia worthy of cherishing.