Clippers' Brook Lopez makes wild basketball history only done before by Steph Curry, LeBron James
Brook Lopez added a surprising chapter to his late-career evolution, delivering a performance for the Los Angeles Clippers that placed him in a club previously reserved for Stephen Curry and LeBron James. By combining elite three-point shooting with high-volume scoring and all-around impact in a single outing, the veteran center authored a statistical line so rare it had only been matched by the two generational superstars.
The exact numbers matter less than the profile of the feat: a big man spacing the floor like a guard, anchoring the defense, and driving winning basketball on both ends. Historically, when a box score hits certain thresholds in scoring, efficiency, and peripheral production, the names at the top are almost always perimeter engines such as Curry and James. Lopez muscling his way into that tier for a night underscores how dramatically the modern game has shifted.
For the Clippers, this is more than a quirky trivia note. Lopez’s ability to stretch the floor opens driving lanes for the team’s primary creators while preserving rim protection on the other end. When he is both a volume scorer and a reliable backline defender, Los Angeles can toggle between small-ball spacing and traditional size without sacrificing either offense or defense.
From a league-wide perspective, Lopez’s achievement reflects the NBA’s ongoing positionless revolution. Centers once lived almost exclusively in the paint; now, the best ones can toggle between pick-and-pop threes, dribble handoffs, and drop coverage. That a 7-footer can log a “Curry-and-LeBron only” type of stat line is proof of how far the archetype has evolved.
It also speaks to longevity and adaptability. Curry and James have sustained their greatness by continually updating their games. Lopez, long into his career, has done something similar, reinventing himself from a post scorer into one of the league’s most respected stretch bigs. For one night, the numbers put him alongside two all-time icons, and for the Clippers, that’s a glimpse of how dangerous they can be when his modern skill set fully clicks.
The exact numbers matter less than the profile of the feat: a big man spacing the floor like a guard, anchoring the defense, and driving winning basketball on both ends. Historically, when a box score hits certain thresholds in scoring, efficiency, and peripheral production, the names at the top are almost always perimeter engines such as Curry and James. Lopez muscling his way into that tier for a night underscores how dramatically the modern game has shifted.
For the Clippers, this is more than a quirky trivia note. Lopez’s ability to stretch the floor opens driving lanes for the team’s primary creators while preserving rim protection on the other end. When he is both a volume scorer and a reliable backline defender, Los Angeles can toggle between small-ball spacing and traditional size without sacrificing either offense or defense.
From a league-wide perspective, Lopez’s achievement reflects the NBA’s ongoing positionless revolution. Centers once lived almost exclusively in the paint; now, the best ones can toggle between pick-and-pop threes, dribble handoffs, and drop coverage. That a 7-footer can log a “Curry-and-LeBron only” type of stat line is proof of how far the archetype has evolved.
It also speaks to longevity and adaptability. Curry and James have sustained their greatness by continually updating their games. Lopez, long into his career, has done something similar, reinventing himself from a post scorer into one of the league’s most respected stretch bigs. For one night, the numbers put him alongside two all-time icons, and for the Clippers, that’s a glimpse of how dangerous they can be when his modern skill set fully clicks.
