Splash Brothers

• 1. Introduction

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  The Splash Brothers is the nickname for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. The two guards shared the backcourt for the Golden State Warriors from 2011 to 2024. In February 2016, at the White House, President Barack Obama said Thompson's jump shot was "actually a little prettier" than Curry's own. It was a lighthearted line about two players already changing what a shooting duo could do. Together they set records for three-pointers made by any pair of teammates in NBA history. They also won four championships and reached six NBA Finals together. How did these two players first end up sharing the same locker room? And after all those years of shooting side by side, what finally pulled them apart?

• 2. Background

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  Dell Curry and Mychal Thompson, the fathers of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, each had long NBA careers of their own. Sonya Curry and Julie Thompson, their mothers, both played volleyball in college. Seth Curry and Mychel Thompson, their brothers, also became basketball players. Despite this family background in the sport, neither Stephen nor Klay drew much interest from major college programs.

  Virginia Tech, the alma mater of Curry's parents, offered him only a walk-on spot rather than a scholarship. He chose Davidson College instead, a modest school in North Carolina. As a sophomore there, Curry's scoring and three-point shooting carried the Wildcats within one game of the Final Four. That was in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. The next season, no player in the country scored more than his 28.6 points per game, and he earned consensus first-team All-American honors.

  Washington State University, a program without a strong national reputation, recruited Thompson through coach Tony Bennett. Other Pacific-10 schools showed little interest, so he left California for Washington instead. Thompson became a two-time first-team All-Pac-10 selection. In 2010-11, no one in the Pac-10 scored more than his 21.6 points per game. He finished his college career holding the Cougars' record for three-pointers, with 242 made.

  Curry's Davidson tournament run and Thompson's scoring record at Washington State were about to draw the same franchise's attention.

• 3. Arrival In Golden State

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  Golden State used the seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft on the 6-foot-2 Curry. The Warriors already had another small, offensive-minded guard in the 6-foot-3 Monta Ellis. Coach Don Nelson's fondness for small lineups in his Nellie Ball system made Curry an appealing addition anyway. Ellis, though, announced at a media session that he and Curry were too small to play together.

  Two years later, Golden State drafted another scoring guard, the 6-foot-6 Thompson, with the 11th overall pick in 2011. A lockout shortened their first season as teammates to 66 games. Curry missed 40 of those games with injuries. Late that season, the Warriors traded the popular Ellis for center Andrew Bogut. The deal left Curry to lead the team and opened the shooting guard spot for Thompson.

  In 2012-13, Curry and Thompson combined for 483 three-pointers, the most ever made by an NBA duo in a season. Curry set a personal NBA record with 272 threes. Thompson added 211, the 22nd-best single season in league history at that time. Warriors coach Mark Jackson called the pair "the greatest shooting backcourt of all time." Golden State reached the second round of the playoffs before losing to the eventual Western Conference champion, the San Antonio Spurs.

  The following season, Curry and Thompson became the first teammates ever to finish first and second in three-pointers made. Curry hit 261, and Thompson hit 223. Their combined total reached 484, a new record, and together they averaged 42.4 points per game. Curry converted 42.4 percent of his three-point attempts, and Thompson made 41.7 percent of his. ESPN.com wrote that "no backcourt in history has rivaled the Splash Brothers in both categories of 3-point volume and efficiency."

  That same offseason, both players helped the United States national team win gold at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Curry and Thompson combined to make 43 of Team USA's 77 three-pointers across 13 games. Thompson emerged as more of a peer than a sidekick, finishing as the team's second-leading scorer at 12.7 points per game. Curry averaged 10.7.

  Their next season would test whether all these three-pointers could finally turn into an NBA championship.

• 4. The 2015 Breakthrough

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  Before the 2014-15 season, Golden State considered trading Thompson for forward Kevin Love. Instead, the Warriors kept their starting backcourt intact. They signed Thompson to a four-year, $70 million contract extension.

  That season, Curry and Thompson each scored 50 points in a single game. It was only the seventh time in NBA history that had happened on one team, and the first time since 1994-95. Both players then started the 2015 NBA All-Star Game. It was the first time teammates had started as guards in an All-Star Game since 1975. Curry received the most fan votes of any player, for his second straight All-Star start.

  Thompson made his own All-Star debut that year. He was coming off a 52-point game in January that included NBA single-quarter records of 37 points and nine three-pointers. Western Conference coaches voted him on as a reserve. New Warriors coach Steve Kerr then named him a replacement starter. The pairing marked the Warriors' first All-Star duo since Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin in 1993. It was also the franchise's first pair of starters since Rick Barry and Nate Thurmond in 1967.

  During that same All-Star Weekend, Curry and Thompson both entered a Three-Point Contest many called the toughest shooting field the event had ever gathered. Both advanced to the three-man final round. Curry won the contest.

  Golden State finished Kerr's first season with a 67-15 record, more wins than any first-year coach had produced in the NBA. The Warriors then won the 2015 NBA Finals, the franchise's first championship in 40 years. Curry was named the league's Most Valuable Player. Kerr assigned Curry to guard opposing point guards, a role previous coach Mark Jackson had given to the taller Thompson. Curry said the change helped him stay more focused.

  Curry broke his own three-point record again with 286 makes. Thompson finished second in the league with 239. Together their combined 525 three-pointers topped the previous record by 41, while the pair converted 44 percent of their attempts. Both were named to the All-NBA Team, Curry on the first team and Thompson on the third. It was the first time Warriors teammates had earned the honor together since Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway in 1991-92. They were also the first backcourt teammates named All-NBA together since 1979-80. That year, Seattle's Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson had both been named to the second team.

• 5. The Historic 73-Win Season

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  By the All-Star break of the 2015-16 season, Golden State had built a 48-4 record, a pace no NBA team had ever matched that deep into a season. Curry was voted in as an All-Star starter. Thompson joined him as a reserve, alongside teammate Draymond Green. Curry led the league that season at 29.8 points per game, and the two again ranked first and second in the NBA in three-pointers made.

  Once again selected for the Three-Point Contest, Curry entered as the heavy favorite. Betting site Bovada gave him 10-11 odds against Thompson's 9-2. The two advanced to the final round together, but this time Thompson won, outscoring Curry 27-23.

  With 24 games left in the season, Curry broke his own three-point record again. He hit 288 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in a 121-118 win. He also tied an NBA record with 12 three-pointers in that game, including a game-winning shot from beyond 30 feet in overtime. The duo broke their combined single-season three-point record after just 66 games. In that same stretch, the 60-6 Warriors became the quickest club in NBA history to reach 60 victories.

  Golden State finished the season with a record 73 wins. Curry made 402 three-pointers that season, and Thompson added 276, for a combined 678 that beat their own previous record by 153. Averaging 52.2 points per game between them, no duo in the league scored more.

  In the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Thunder 4-3. Thompson scored 41 points and made an NBA playoff record 11 three-pointers in Game 6. That performance made the pair the first players in NBA history to each make at least 30 three-pointers in a single playoff series. Their combined 62 makes in that series topped even Oklahoma City's team total of 55.

  Golden State's pursuit of new three-point records would soon collide with a run of serious injuries.

• 6. Records And Setbacks

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  In 2016-17, Curry and Thompson became the first two players in NBA history to each make at least 200 three-pointers in five consecutive seasons. Curry also broke the NBA's single-game three-point record with 13 makes. He surpassed the previous mark of 12, which he had shared with Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall.

  The following season, in 2017-18, both players again reached 200 three-pointers, extending their streak. In Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against Houston, Thompson scored 35 points on 9-of-14 shooting from three. Curry added 29 points and five threes of his own. The Warriors overcame a 17-point deficit to win 115-86, forcing a 3-3 series tie. The pair outscored the Rockets 37-25 in the second half alone.

  Center DeMarcus Cousins joined the Warriors for the 2018-19 season. As a 2014 FIBA World Cup teammate, he had once joked that he was "the third Splash Brother." At the time of that joke, Cousins had made just nine of 61 three-point attempts, 14.8 percent, across four NBA seasons. By 2018-19 he had improved to 35.1 percent over the following four years.

  On the 29th of October 2018, against the Chicago Bulls, Thompson broke Curry's own single-game record by making 14 three-pointers. He finished with 52 points in 27 minutes, shooting 14-for-24 from beyond the arc. His 10 threes in the first half tied a record Chandler Parsons had set in 2014. Golden State's 17 first-half threes set an NBA record for a half. Curry had already scored 51 points in a game earlier that season. That made the two the first NBA teammates to each score 50 or more within their team's first eight games.

  In the 2019 playoffs, Golden State eliminated the Los Angeles Clippers 4-2 in the first round. Both Curry and Thompson sprained ankles in Game 6 of that series. Against Houston in the conference semifinals, the Splash Brothers connected on barely one of every three three-point attempts across five straight games, their coldest postseason shooting stretch on record. Kevin Durant, averaging a team-leading 35.4 points in that series, left Game 5 with a strained calf and was ruled out indefinitely. Curry scored 16 of his 25 points after Durant left that game. The Warriors won Game 6 on the road. Thompson scored 21 of his 27 points in the first half, and Curry scored all 33 of his in the second.

  Golden State lost the 2019 Finals 4-2 to the Toronto Raptors. Durant, who had returned from his calf injury, tore his Achilles tendon in Game 5. Thompson tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee late in the third quarter of the deciding Game 6.

  Both players would spend the coming season rebuilding their bodies rather than adding to the record book.

• 7. Return To The Finals

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  Golden State finished the 2019-20 season with a league-worst 15-50 record. Thompson missed the entire season recovering from his torn ACL. Curry played only five games after breaking his left hand in October. The season itself ended early because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  In November 2020, Thompson tore his right Achilles tendon during a pickup game. That injury ruled him out for the entire 2020-21 season as well. Curry won his second career Three-Point Contest in 2021 and dedicated the victory to the still-recovering Thompson.

  Thompson returned for 32 regular-season games in 2021-22. That same year, Curry became the NBA's career leader in three-pointers made. Guard Jordan Poole emerged as a starter that season, and his three-point shooting led some media writers to call him the "Third Splash Brother." Thompson called Poole a "baby Steph Curry." Draymond Green said Poole was giving "his best impression" of Curry.

  By then, the nickname that had followed the two guards for years had outlived several rosters around them.

• 8. Identity And The Split

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  The Splash Brothers nickname describes the pair's ability to "splash" the net, especially on three-pointers. It plays on an older Bay Area nickname, the Bash Brothers, given to Oakland Athletics sluggers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. The term began in 2012, in a tweet from Brian Witt, a writer for the Warriors' own website.

  On the 21st of December 2012, against the Charlotte Bobcats, Curry and Thompson combined for 25 points and seven three-pointers by halftime. Witt posted an update on the team's Twitter account using the hashtag #SplashBrothers. Golden State went on to win that game 115-100. The Warriors liked the nickname and encouraged Witt to keep using it.

  Across their careers, Curry and Thompson made 6,228 combined three-pointers, the most by any duo in NBA history. They also hold the record for career playoff three-pointers by a duo, with 1,119 makes. They hold the same record for career NBA Finals three-pointers by a duo, with 258 makes. In the 2015-16 season alone, they attempted 1,568 three-pointers as a pair, another duo record. They still hold the mark for the most three-pointers made by a duo in a single playoff season, with 178.

  No other duo in NBA history has made at least 400 combined three-pointers in seven consecutive seasons, a mark Curry and Thompson set together. They are also the only duo to reach at least 500 combined three-pointers in three consecutive seasons. They are the only pair to top 600 combined threes in a single season, a feat they managed twice.

  After 13 years together in Golden State, Thompson left the Warriors on the 6th of July 2024. He joined the Dallas Mavericks in a six-team sign-and-trade deal. The trade closed the thirteen seasons Thompson and Curry spent together in Golden State. It sent Thompson to a Mavericks roster that had never featured either Splash Brother.