Steph Curry NBA Prop Bets: Best Odds For Breaking Klay Thompson, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain Scoring Records
Wager on whether the Golden State star will break Thompson, Chamberlain or Bryant’s scoring records at MaximBet.
Last season, unbeknownst to everybody— except a sportswriter, a coach and anyone who viewed a cryptic tweet—Steph Curry tried to break Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring record. MaximBet has posted odds on it happening this season.
Now the story can be told: Steph Curry tried to break Wilt Chamberlain’s record for most points in a game – 100 – last season when he was in Cleveland, the site of his prolific All-Star performance Sunday night where he nailed 16 3-pointers en route to being named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Which raises the question: Will he ever try to score more than 100 again?
And what about Klay Thompson’s record for most 3-pointers in a regular-season game at 14, can he break that record as well?
MaximBet says the former is extraordinarily unlikely with odds of 50-1, or +5000. The latter proposition on Thompson’s record is a heck of a lot shorter, 8-1, or +800. You can see all the Curry record-breaking prop bets from MaximBet here.
But back to the story that can now be told.
Last season in early April, Curry had a particularly prolific week – even by his standards. He scored 38 and 53 at home against Houston and Denver, then went into Oklahoma City and had 42, including an 8-for-8 third quarter from 3-point range in which he scored 25.
The next night he was in Cleveland, and the afternoon before the game your faithful NBA correspondent reached coach Steve Kerr on the phone and asked why he had sat Curry in the fourth quarter when Curry had been quoted as saying he wanted to break Thompson’s record for most 3s in a quarter: Nine.
Kerr, who at the time was bringing his team into empty arenas because of the pandemic and was bemoaning the state of the world, said he could not play his All-Star when his team was up 42 heading into the fourth, but then quickly reversed himself and said that given the circumstances, perhaps he could have let Curry try. This was one of the strongest stretches of Curry’s career as he hit 29 3-pointers in the games against the Rockets, Nuggets and Thunder.
“Yeah, maybe I could have,” Kerr said. From there, the conversation turned to making something out of what felt like a completely lost regular season. Why not, Kerr was asked, let Curry try to break Wilt Chamberlain’s record of 100 points?
“You know what? That’s a great idea. Let’s do it tonight,” Kerr said.
Your correspondent gave readers a clue:
Within minutes, a colleague called. “Your Twitter has been hacked,” he said.
“No it hasn’t,” was the reply. “I know something you don’t know.”
Curry then went out and missed his first eight 3-point attempts, proving that if you go out and try to break a record, you will never do it. These things have to happen organically rather than being planned, and the backstory was never told…until now.
“Wilt went 28-for-32 from the free throw line in his 100-point game, and when Kobe Bryant had his 81-point game Toronto was playing especially soft defense,” said retired NBA writer and NBA executive Jan Hubbard, author of the NBA Encyclopedia.
This is especially relevant as we head into the second half of the NBA season because Curry’s performance in Cleveland on Sunday night may be what it takes to break him out of a prolonged slump.
Once the leading candidate to be voted Most Valuable Player, where he is now fourth choice at +800 at MaximBet behind Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Curry scored 30 points or more only twice in 15 January games, shooting below 50 percent in 12 of those games.
His February has been better with outputs of 35 against the Knicks and 33 against the Clippers, but he also failed to reach 20 against the Thunder and Jazz. But now we have his epic performance from All-Star to measure against, and let’s face it, if one of your buddies had offered you an over/under of 15.5 3-pointers made on Sunday, you would have taken the under faster than Joe Biden could modify one of his military invasion predictions.
Crushing the previous All-Star game record of nine 3-pointers, Curry hit eight in the first half after he was booed in pre-game introductions and then had the crowd roaring in the third quarter as he came out and quickly made five in a row, including three on consecutive possessions.
“I have a lot of history in this building, won a lot of games, lost a lot of games, everywhere in between. It, obviously, means there’s history here, and the fans I think appreciate it, but it comes out in the form of boos, and I enjoy it because it’s not the first time, not the last time. And it takes some energy to boo, so you got to care a lot to do that,” Curry said.
“I tried to channel that into the performance tonight and just have fun with it. I got hot early and kept it going, and tried to put on a little bit of a show. The joy started to come out, and hopefully everybody appreciated it.”
We did, but we want to see something similar in a game that features actual defense.
The Warriors, 42-17 and in second place in the Western Conference, have 23 games remaining, including an ABC game on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 5 and a home game against LeBron James’ team on April 7 that will be televised by TNT.
Which begs the question: If Curry cannot get to 100, can he get to Kobe’s career-high of 81? Curry’s career-high is 62 on January 3, 2021. MaximBet lists odds of +2400 for Curry to get 82 or more, which would likely include him breaking Thompson’s record of 14 3-pointers set on October 29, 2018.
Only five players have scored 70 points or more in an NBA game, the last time coming on March 24, 2017, when Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns scored 70 at Boston. It has happened just 11 times, with Booker being the first player to join the 70-point club since Bryant had his 81 in 2006 at Toronto.
Prior to that, nobody had done it since David Robinson scored 71 against the Clippers in 1994.
“I don’t see any coach allowing him to get up enough shots to get past 81. He would be double- and triple-teamed like crazy because any coach who didn’t would have a lot of explaining to do to his GM and owner. Good way to lose a job,” Hubbard said.
“I wouldn’t bet against the guy because he is the best shooter we’ve ever seen, but the likelihood of one of Thompson’s records falling before the end of Curry’s career? I think he can break one or more.”
MaximBet is offering a prop like that in addition to the aforementioned record-breaking offerings. Here’s the full list:
Steph Curry Record Prop Bets
Will Steph Curry break Wilt Chamberlain’s single game record of 100 points?
- Yes (+5000)
Will Steph Curry break Kobe Bryant’s single game career high of 81 points?
- Yes (+2400)
Will Steph Curry break Klay Thompson’s single game record of 14 made 3-pointers?
- Yes (+800)
What will happen first?
- Curry breaks Thompson’s single game 3-point record (-330)
- Curry breaks Bryant’s single-game career high (points, +400)
- Curry breaks Chamberlain’s single-game point record +1000
Ready for some basketball or NCAA hoops action? Take advantage of MaximBet’s massive welcome offer that puts a 100% bonus up to $1,000 back into your betting account after your first deposit. Sign up here today to maximize your sports betting experience with MaximBet.
Read This Next
