National Basketball Association

NBA Season Preview: 5 best pure shooters

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

As NBA offenses move increasingly outward, who are the very best at gunning from beyond the arc?

From the earliest days of the two-handed set shot, to the current pace-and-space offenses positioning multiple players outside the three-point line, shooting has been as much a thread in the fabric of basketball as anything.

Over the past decade, and especially in the last five years, shooting has taken on increased prominence. What was once a frowned-upon gimmick first adopted in the ABA, the three-point shot has become perhaps the most important spice in any team’s offensive recipe. Seemingly every game, a Splash Brother goes on a game-breaking run, Kyle Korver is catching-and-shooting, or Damian Lillard is hitting an impossible buzzer-beater.

Though shooting is obviously not limited to three-pointers, the mid-range game continues to shrink, making it all the more important to fill a team with gunners. Not every team can be the Golden State Warriors, so charmed as to have three of the very best shooters of all-time in their stead, but that does not stop players from trying.

So long as the Vine remains the most accessible platform for gawking and awing at the things you know you and your friends cannot consistently do on the playground, the shooter will remain a premium commodity in basketball. Here now are the five best pure shooters in the NBA today, taking into account shooting percentage, range and form as the primary criteria.

(Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)

5. Devin Booker

With only one season under his belt, Devin Booker still stands to be one of the bright spots for an otherwise potentially underwhelming Phoenix Suns team. A former SEC Sixth Man of the Year playing for John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats, Booker has already begun to make his mark on the league, having filled in admirably after Eric Bledsoe went down with an injury last December. He shot his way into the Three-Point Contest at All-Star weekend and finished third, only behind the Splash Brothers.

There is bound to be a learning curve between college and the NBA, and Booker’s case is no different, as he only shot 34.3 percent his rookie year. That masks putting up threes at a 40.3 percent clip before the All-Star break, however, as well as his glorious efficiency inside the arc.

Now, Booker has a full-time starting spot going into the season. Already in the preseason, Booker has impressed, scoring 34 points in 24 minutes against two other excellent shooters, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum of the Portland Trail Blazers. Still only 19 years old, Booker’s ceiling may best be described as “roof access,” and he can probably knock down 40 percent from up there too.

Getty Images

4. Kevin Durant

It is vitally important to remember why so many anonymous Twitter eggs armed themselves with hashtags when Kevin Durant bolted Oklahoma City for the Golden State Warriors this offseason. A former MVP and member of the 50/40/90 club, Durant has already established himself as one of the best shooters of all-time, leveraging his seven-foot frame against defenders to generate space that many others, including the rest of this list, do not have.

Depending on who you ask, and how angry they are right now, Kevin Durant is one of the five best basketball players on the planet. From the time he came out of Texas through the present, Durant has committed himself to becoming the best possible version of himself as a basketball player, surpassing even the loftiest expectations.

In 2012-13, Durant became a member of the hallowed 50/40/90 club, which includes players who have had a shooting percentage of 50 percent or above from the field, 40 percent from the three-point line, and 90 percent from the free-throw line. A year later, he snagged the MVP trophy, became a meme, and solidified his candidacy as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

His three-point percentage has not fallen below 35 percent since his rookie year, and his shooting inside the arc is similarly outstanding. By using his frame against typically smaller defenders, Durant can generate points in unique ways, and with jaw-dropping efficiency. Last season, he shot nearly 57 percent from inside the arc. With the vast array of options at Steve Kerr’s disposal, Durant’s opportunities only figure to increase this year.

OAKLAND, CA – JUNE 19: Klay Thompson

3. Klay Thompson

For all the Internet scorn the Warriors have amassed after blowing a 3-1 series lead in the Finals with the first-ever unanimous MVP, and somewhat understandably so, what gets lost is that the Warriors had been down 3-1 in the previous series before storming back themselves. With Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook leading the charge, and Steven Adams and Enes Kanter creating a powerful mismatch inside, the Warriors found themselves struggling for answers, down 3-2 heading into Game 6.

When Steph Curry went unseasonably cold, and with Durant shooting similarly poorly, Klay Thompson seized the spotlight, scoring 41 points on 14-31 shooting, including 11-18 from three. He kept Golden State’s season alive, helped end Oklahoma City’s, and contributed to Durant’s eventual defection to the Warriors.

Thompson, of course, has long been one of the NBA’s best shooters, and perhaps its most consistently streaky. When he gets hot, he is summarily unstoppable, perhaps even more so than his backcourt mate Steph Curry. The best manifestation of this was his record-breaking 37-point quarter on January 23, 2015, against the Sacramento Kings, in which he went 13-13 from the field with nine three-pointers, also a single-quarter record.

Thompson’s shot motion is blisteringly quick and reeks of consistency, and he is the defending NBA Three-Point Competition champion. Thompson has never shot below 40 percent from three for a season in his career, putting up a 42.5 percent mark from beyond the arc a season ago, and has a reasonable shot at joining the 50/40/90 club at some point.

Getty Images

2. J.J. Redick

As the Golden State Warriors reload for a run at another ring under Steve Kerr, the rest of the Western Conference stands in the way. For as loaded as they appear, Golden State will not have an easy path back to the Finals, with teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers chomping at the bit for a shot at the preseason favorites.

Once the most hated man in college basketball at Duke, J.J. Redick has become a valuable member of the Clippers, the most reliable shooter in an offense centered on Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. Redick’s shooting is one of the most important facets of the Clippers’ offensive scheme, as Paul, Griffin and DeAndre Jordan often draw multiple defenders toward the rim on drives and, thus, away from the arc.

The arc, of course, is where Redick lives, having posted a league-best 47.5 percent from beyond the three-point line last season. Redick is a career 41.2 percent shooter from beyond the arc but has seen his average increase over each of the three years he has been in Los Angeles. Along with that, his true shooting percentage has exploded in that time, having shot 30 percentage points above his career average last season.

As he’s gotten older, Redick has gotten more savvy, reading defenses and responding by routinely ditching defenders around screens and in traffic. While much of the focus will rightfully be on Paul and Griffin to direct another Doc Rivers squad into the playoffs, Redick could be the key to keeping up with the Joneses of the Bay Area.

(Getty Images)

1. Stephen Curry

Forget Kevin Durant joining the dark side. Forget Klay Thompson’s random acts of efficiency. Forget Draymond Green’s gluteous maximus. The biggest reason the Golden State Warriors won a title two years ago, and have been at the forefront of the conversation each of the last three years, is an amateur golfer from Charlotte, North Carolina, whose dad was an original Hornet and whose daughter carried on the family tradition of becoming an Internet sensation during the Finals two years ago.

Despite being born in Akron, Ohio, Curry took a dagger to his birthplace’s heart two years ago, cutting short LeBron James’ bid to bring a title home in his first season back. Though he came up short last season, Curry remains the NBA’s standard-bearer for long-range excellence, having shattered many shooting records since he entered the league in 2009.

Another member of the 50/40/90 club, Curry is the signal post for where the NBA is likely heading, with his insane arsenal of dribble moves, pump fakes, and unconscionable range. Curry’s highlights tend to look less like NBA games and more like YouTube trick shot compilations, except that this guy is doing it against the very best in the world.

Even with the increased focus he has attracted from defenses in recent years, Curry adjusts, and his light-speed release affords him ample opportunity to create from the dribble or pull up from a different dimension altogether. Curry has never let his three-point percentage slip below 42 percent on any season, and his true shooting percentage last year rather insanely rubbed shoulders with 67 percent.

Like Reggie Miller and Ray Allen before him, Curry is a fearless gunner who seems to elevate his game to match the frustration of his opponent and gravity of a situation. Some have already dubbed him the greatest shooter of all-time, and there is plenty of evidence to support that notion. So long as Curry is bringing the ball to half court himself, defenses will have to begin to jam him there. Ever the spellbinding escape artist, Curry may just begin pulling up from three-quarters of the court away. It does not seem like anyone could stop him back there either.