When an athlete is playing extremely well, saying they’re putting up “video game numbers” is a fairly common expression. That’s because usually, the video game iterations of athletes can do things that the flesh-and-bone versions just can’t. But that narrative has been flipped this past NBA season. Two-time league MVP Stephen Curry has had such a historically great year that the NBA 2K16 video game couldn’t adequately reflect his long-range shooting skills without compromising its realism, forcing developers to change the way the game’s ratings work.
Based on that (and a host of other factors), it makes sense that Curry was recently named the NBA MVP for the second consecutive year, winning the award in a unanimous vote this time around. Nobody’s ever done that in the history of the NBA, by the way. In honor of this landmark achievement, Under Armour is teaming up with NBA 2K16 to max out Curry’s overall rating in the game for a 30-hour window beginning today at 3 p.m. PT, “making him the greatest shooter in NBA 2K history.”
This announcement was made in a hilarious video (above) that shows video-game Curry jealously watching some of IRL-Curry’s outrageous highlights. Digital Curry then gives an encouraged smile when the screen says, “Finally, video-game Stephen will be as remarkable as real-life Stephen.”
Check out the video above, but before you do, here are some stats to put Curry’s greatness into historical context. Curry previously set the record for the most 3-point field goals made in a season last year, with 286. He broke that record this year… with 402 made 3’s, a 40.5% increase from the previous season.
That means that over the past two seasons, Curry has made 688 3’s; Larry Bird, considered to be one of the greatest 3-point shooters to ever play the game, finished his 13-year, Hall of Fame career with 649 made 3’s. Watch real-life Curry in action below.
Image: Under Armour