The NBA Players With The Most Game-Winning Shots In History

As an NBA player, one of the most important and glorified skills one can have is the clutch gene. Most NBA teams want and need that guy who wants the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Not only do they want the ball, but they know exactly what to do with it once they have possession, whether that be making the right pass or creating knocking down game-winning shots. This is especially important as the season wears on and we enter the playoff atmosphere where every single moment is as tense as it gets all season long. 

Game-winning shots are something we practiced in our driveways as kids, and to see it done on a professional level is about as exciting as it gets. It doesn’t matter if you are a dominant 50-point scorer or you hit one shot all game with 10 turnovers, all people will be speaking about the next morning is that game-winning play. The players below are the ones who did it the most over their NBA careers and in NBA history. They can only be classified as the most clutch players to ever touch a basketball.

These are the NBA players with the most game-winning shots in history.

T10. Andre Iguodala – 5 Game-Winning Shots

Andre Iguodala is an NBA legend in many ways but mostly due to his 2015 NBA Finals MVP performance. Iguodala received the honors for his clutch defensive play against LeBron James in the series, and while that was a big-time moment, it wasn’t anything on his ability to knock down game-winners. Iguodala was clutch from his athletically-gifted days with the 76ers, where he knocked down three game-winners in his first eight seasons. 

When Iguodala moved on from the Sixers and ended up with the Warriors in 2013-14, Iguodala would find his clutch gene once again twice with the team. His last game-winner came against the Hawks on January 3, 2014. Iguodala hit a game-winning three in that contest, the final time we saw him do so in his career. Iguodala made his only All-Star appearance in 2012 with Philadelphia but has cemented his place in the hearts of NBA fans everywhere.

T10. Gilbert Arenas – 5 Game-Winning Shots

At the peak of his career, Gilbert Arenas’ clutch shot-making was the stuff of legend. The speedy and streaky point guard enjoyed one of the best primes of any point guard during the 2000s, which included three straight All-Star and All-NBA Team selections from 2005 thru 2007. Arenas was a 25.0 PPG scorer or better in all three of those seasons and knocked down all five of his buzzer-beating game-winners while in a Washington Wizards uniform.

He arrived in Washington in 2004 and knocked down his first game-winner, a 27-footer to knock off the 76ers. He repeated his game-winner magic the following season in the playoffs against the Chicago Bulls, knocking down a jumper from 14 feet. During the 2007 season, it seemed like Arenas was at the peak of his powers. He beat the Bucks on a 32-foot shot at the beginning of January and 12 days later, delivered a buzzer-beater in a 51-point performance against the Jazz. It was the second-most points that any player has scored and delivered a game-winning shot behind Fred Brown’s 58 points. His final buzzer-beater came two months later against the SuperSonics, becoming the first player in NBA history with three game-winners in the same season.

T10. Vince Carter – 5 Game-Winning Shots

As far as NBA concerts, Vince Carter is one of the game’s greatest dunkers, and that is where his resume ends. The fact is, at his peak, Carter was one of the best shooting guards in basketball, with high-scoring performances to match his athletic highlights. He also had the propensity to break opponents’ backs in crunch time, making him one of the most dangerous players with the ball in his hands in the clutch ever.

Carter is one of five players with five different game-winners, yes. However, he is the only player in NBA history to hit five game-winning three-pointers, two more than the next closest players. His game-winners average a distance of 28.5 feet, with three of them coming from further than 30 feet from the basket, which is also an NBA record. Most of these attempts and makes came when his team was trailing by two points in the waning seconds of the game. His most famous game-winner happens to be in this same situation when he helped the Mavericks take a 2-1 lead in the first round of the 2014 playoffs.

T10. Kevin Garnett – 5 Game-Winning Shots

Kevin Garnett is the only player on this list who stands 6’10’’ or above. Coming out of high school, Garnett was revered for his versatility as a large power forward on the court. He ran the floor very well and defended, rebounded, and scored among the most elite players in the NBA. He also had some of the best court vision from a big man we have ever seen. Garnett was a 2004 MVP and 2008 Defensive Player of the Year showing why he is always ranked among the game’s greatest power forwards.

Garnett not only showed his versatility early on with the Timberwolves, but he also showed his ability to deliver in the clutch. Garnett hit four of his five game-winners as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves all on two-point jump shots. His fifth game-winner came in 2009 against the New York Knicks. In Madison Square Garden, Garnett would knock down a 19-footer to down the Knicks 107-105 at the buzzer. All five of Garnett’s game-winners came on two-point jump shots with distance from 12-21 feet out.

T10. Dwyane Wade – 5 Game-Winning Shots

Dwyane Wade is one of the best shooting guards to ever play the game. In his third NBA season in 2006, Wade led the Miami Heat to their first NBA championship in franchise history, and from that moment on, his clutch moments were legendary. Wade went on to win a total of three NBA championships with the Heat, adding two more wins in 2012 and 2013. He is one of the best two-way players ever at his position, setting the NBA record for blocks by a guard with 885.

Wade spread his game-winning shots out over a span of 14 seasons. He hit his first game-winner came back in 2004 against the Jazz on a 20-foot dagger. Wade hit all five of his game-winners on unassisted plays, such as the game-winning layup that was blocked by Jordan Bell and recovered by Wade in 2018 or his strip of John Salmons, one-footed three-pointer against the Bulls in 2009. Wade’s clutch ability came with the enjoyment of some of the greatest highlights over the past 20 years.

T3. Paul Pierce – 7 Game-Winning Shots

Paul Pierce, aka “The Truth,” is one of the more polarizing personalities on television today. He always adds something outrageous to any conversation that he is a part of and has never shied away from controversial basketball takes. He was also a problem on the court. Pierce has hit seven game-winners in NBA history, tied for the third-most by any player ever. He was the leader of the 2008 Boston Celtics championship team and played an entire season after being stabbed in a nightclub and told he couldn’t. He truly was “The Truth.”

Pierce was not only known for scoring in the clutch. He has five career assists on game-winning shots as well, which is an NBA record. This means he has either assisted on or scored on 12 different game-winners in his career. All seven of his game-winners came from two-point shots, which is crazy when you consider Pierce ranks 11th on the all-time three-pointers made list. Somewhere over time, Pierce’s resume on the court has become underrated. We have to start recognizing how amazing he was in the clutch.

T3. LeBron James – 7 Game-Winning Shots

LeBron James was born to be on this list. We have watched James grow up before our very eyes from an 18-year-old kid into one of the greatest players in NBA history. LeBron has captured four MVP awards in his career, along with four NBA titles and four Finals MVP awards as well. He has brought championships to three different franchises and is on the verge of becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. He did not achieve this kind of career without being able to deliver when it matters most.

It is amazing that James was once labeled as afraid of the big moment because of his willingness to pass the ball in big spots. He has shattered that nonsense with five career game-winners in the NBA playoffs, which is a record by two shots over the likes of Michael Jordan. As his career winds down and the resume fills up, let it be known that LeBron James is one of the most clutch players in NBA history.

T2. Joe Johnson – 8 Game-Winning Shots

Although his career was marred by injury and internal disputes, Joe Johnson is one of the most talented players to take the court over the last 15 seasons. Johnson’s shot creation in one-on-one situations earned him the nickname “Iso Joe” for defenders’ inability to stop him from getting his shot off. Johnson proved this to be true eight times in the clutch, tied with the late Kobe Bryant and only one game-winner behind the GOAT.

In his prime, Johnson was an All-Star with the Hawks, who averaged 21.0 PPG or better on many occasions. He would only knock down two of his game-winners with Atlanta, though, and saved his magic for later on with the Brooklyn Nets. In three and a half seasons with the Nets, Johnson knocked down five game-winners in the last second to win games and earned another All-Star selection in 2014. Out of Johnson’s eight game-winners, seven of them came unassisted, tying him with Michael Jordan for the most all-time.

T2. Kobe Bryant – 8 Game-Winning Shots

There was only one man more built for the big moment than Kobe Bryant. For 20 years, Kobe Bryant became a global basketball icon and legend while inspiring a generation of kids to pick up a basketball for the very first time. Bryant is a former MVP of the league, a five-time NBA champion, and a two-time Finals MVP who showed up on the biggest stages of them all more often than not to deliver success and victory to the Lakers.

Bryant hit seven of his eight career game-winners during the regular season, which ties him with Joe Johnson for the most ever. Of those eight career game-winners, six of them came when his team was trailing in the game and needed a shot to go down more than ever. In the month of December 2009 thru the first of January the next month, Kobe went on an incredible tear that saw him knock down three game-winners when his team was behind in the game in less than a month of time. The run cemented his legacy as one of the game’s greatest finishers. 

1. Michael Jordan – 9 Game-Winning Shots

Now, we get to the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball. Part of Michael Jordan’s GOAT legacy is that he was the one player with the game on the line that anybody with a choice would select. His clutch ability shined through far more than once on his way to six NBA championships and an NBA record six Finals MVP awards. Time and time again, Jordan sent opponents home packing with his late-game shooting ability, especially when it came to the games that meant the most to his team.

Of the players that are on this list, Jordan averaged the most PPG in the games, where he ended them with a game-winner at 34.4 PPG. He is one of two players (Damian Lillard) to end two different playoff series with a game-winning shot at the buzzer. All nine of his game-winners happened to be jump shots anywhere from 14 to 26 feet, and they say the man couldn’t shoot. If there is one player whose clutch ability that anybody is looking to model their game after, it is Michael Jordan’s. 

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