Almost every NBA fan can agree that Steph Curry is the greatest three-point shooter of all time. With 4,058 makes and counting from beyond the arc, he’s the all-time leader by a wide margin. Steph has also popularized three-point celebrations like the look-away three-pointer, where he turns and walks down the court while the ball is still mid-flight. But all these years later, a former teammate of Larry Bird claims the Celtics legend actually invented it.
Robert Parish and Larry Bird won three NBA championships together with the Celtics. Alongside Magic Johnson and the Lakers, they dominated the 1980s, an era defined by dynasties and familiar faces consistently winning it all. Sadly, that era often gets overlooked in modern times.
That’s why Parish felt the need to speak up about how great of a shooter Bird was long before Steph. Bird was arguably the first superstar to be a true three-point threat and floor spacer who also played with swagger and confidence. So when Parish hears fans call Steph the greatest shooter of all time, he likes to remind them where some of those moves may have originated.
“Larry was doing the turn your back like Steph Curry does today. Larry was doing that back in the 80s. Like he’s shooting it and walk away before the shot goes in. Larry caught the inbound pass, shot a three-pointer, and walked off the floor,” Parish shared on The Coach JB Show.
Steph has made the no-look three a signature move whenever he’s feeling it from deep. As risky as it may be, it shows just how in sync he is with his shot—he often knows it’s going in the moment it leaves his hand. And for fans, it’s always a thrill to watch.
But Parish wanted to remind the younger generation that Steph is borrowing a move Bird pulled off decades ago. Given Bird’s legendary confidence, it’s no surprise, and totally on brand, that he was nailing no-look threes long before they went viral.
Bird on Steph as All-Time Best 3 Point Shooter
Not only may Steph have copied a move that Bird helped popularize, but Larry Legend might not even consider him the greatest shooter of all time. In a past interview, Bird revealed that another Warriors Hall of Famer always stood out to him as a shooter during games.
“I don’t know about that; Chris Mullin was pretty good,” Bird said on the Dan Patrick Show. “You’re just getting out there shooting around. You mean game shots… I’d say he’s right there [as one of the best shooters ever].”
Out of respect for Bird, we’ll take his word for it. But the stats don’t exactly back up his claim. Chris Mullin — also a Golden State Warriors legend like Curry — might have been one of the best in-game shooters of his era, but he didn’t come close to matching the sheer volume of threes Steph has made in his career.
That said, we get where Bird is coming from. The game was different in the ’80s, and Mullin was one of the original sharpshooters who could stretch the floor. Just like Bird himself. So if anyone’s qualified to compare another great shooter to Steph, it’s Larry.
