Jared McCain is more than Rookie of the Year favorite: 76ers guard looks like Stephen Curry of 2024 NBA Draft

Jared McCain’s rise up the rookie rankings has surprised everyone but himself.

Choice no. 16 in the 2024 NBA Draft has been the best player in his class by a mile, averaging 16.6 points per game. game on 46.2 percent shooting from the field and 40.0 percent from 3. He recently scored 20 points in seven straight games, a stretch that included a pair of 30-point performances.

Philadelphia’s season has been a disaster, but McCain still makes the 76ers an entertaining watch. It’s a tough life being a 6-2 guard in the league. He does it by imitating the best of the best.

SN’s NBA Headquarters: Live NBA Scores | Updated NBA Standings | Full NBA schedule

Jared McCain looks like the Stephen Curry of the 2024 NBA Draft class

McCain’s stats are Curry-like

Curry is the best NBA shooter of all time. There won’t be another player at his level for a long time, but McCain is the player in this class that most resembles both his ability and style of play in this class.

It’s not an accident. In a preseason appearance on teammate Paul George’s podcastMcCain listed Curry as one of his playmakers (along with other small guards Jalen Brunson and CJ McCollum). Curry’s shooting stats this season are in a league of their own, but McCain’s isn’t too far off.

Jared McCain	State (per 100 holdings)	Stephen Curry
34.6	Points	36.0
13.0	3-point trial	15.5
46.2%	Field Goals %	47.5%
40.0%	3-point %	44.4%
93.6%	Free Throw %	95.8%

McCain hits his 3 the same way as Curry. He’s already become a master of Curry’s patented relocation 3s, where he gets off the ball and moves to a better shooting spot at the rim before receiving a pass back and ripping off a triple.

Even when McCain isn’t directly involved in a play, he keeps moving until he’s chasing a pocket with room to shoot from.

All-Defensive guard Jalen Suggs doesn’t make many mistakes, but both he and the NBA cameraman didn’t think there was any way McCain was still in this game:

MORE: The time has come for the Warriors to trade Jonathan Kuminga

McCain is more than a 3-point shooter

McCain’s deep shooting opens up the rest of his game. He is also dangerous as an intermediate scorer and stops on a dime come to a smart pull-up shirt. He has hit an impressive 54 percent on the mid-tone lookswhich is important because they set up his drive nicely.

Given his height and mediocre athleticism, McCain must find a way to finish at the edge among the trees. He is not shy about driving to the basket – his 9.0 drives per game surpasses Curry’s 7.4. And while his 57 percent shooting at the rim is just half bad, his craft is fun to watch.

McCain uses the threat of this pull-up to set up a beautiful up-and-under counter.

McCain’s game can be very lopsided. He finds windows by changing the timing and angle that big men are used to competing with. His signature shot is a scoop layup that he can flip under the arms of surprised defenders, sneak in from his wrong hand and foot or swerving in without ever getting the ball down.

He’s taking another page out of Curry’s book with that technique.

None of these skills would necessarily stand alone as elite, but McCain is a very smart scorer. He plays all those weapons off each other to make himself a much tougher cover than the sum of his bag.

MORE: Why Kendrick Lamar’s surprise album is good news for the Warriors

McCain can punish teams that fit

McCain is not yet at Curry’s level as a passer, but some of the reads are there. He is bold in where he places the ball, throwing it to where teammates want to be instead of where they are.

McCain’s passing is made even better by his elite processing speed. He comes off the ball quickly to get his teammates going, know in advance where the soft spots in the defense are. He always has eyes on the back of a defense, marks when help cannot recover in time. He’s even shown great zip on his skip passes, punishing defenses when they load up on him.

Defensive attention has begun to increase as McCain has proven he can handle more of an offensive load. His efficiency and volume are at historic levels — he and Zion Williamson are the only rookies in Basketball-Reference’s database that an average of at least 15 points per match at 60 percent true shooting while using at least 27 percent of their team’s possessions.

The scary thing is that this is only the tip of the iceberg for McCain. He is 20 years old and began the season playing mop-up minutes. His first start of the year didn’t come until 11 games into the season. Despite this youth, he is on a clear path to becoming an All-Star. A scoring package like his simply doesn’t come along very often.

There is one difference between Curry and McCain that we already see. 15 years ago, Curry finished second in Rookie of the Year to Tyreke Evans. We know what greatness from 3 looks like now and the voters won’t make the same mistake this time.