The NBA has been blessed these last few decades with some of the greatest shooters that we have ever seen. Reggie Miller kicked things off in the 1990s, with Ray Allen taking over in the 2000s, while the 2010s belonged to the Splash Brothers. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson formed the greatest shooting backcourt we had ever seen and the two show no signs of slowing down.
While there can be few arguments against those four to be a part of the discussion when it comes to the greatest shooters ever, one fan included another name in the mix, Damian Lillard. Lillard definitely is one of the best in the game, but the reaction to the post suggests that many do not agree that he deserves to be in the discussion:
https://twitter.com/kellsonHoops/status/1528552442044067846
“Dame ? What? Lol. Korver? Mark price? Reddick? Kerr? Dame is above all of them? Ok lol”
“You are gonna tell me dame is a better shooter than Larry bird I refuse to believe that”
“I love Dame. But he is not on this perch. Those are no doubt about it, Hall of Fame, greatest shooters ever. Dame is in the “V Good, Not Great” category. Dame is really good, but there’s not a single season Dame has been the best at anything. #NBA”
“Larry Bird > Dame KD > Klay”
“How disrespectful. Kd ain’t even in there… delete this asap.”
“where Craig Hodges, Larry Bird, Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, Drazen Petrovic, Dan Majerle also were great shooters in this league, Kevin Durant as well.”
“Man I love D. Lillard, but Kyle Korver not being in this picture with 4,250 3P-FGM at 43% is a modern tragedy.”
“Kyrie is a better 3 point shooter than dame”
“Dam over guys like Bird and Dirk?!”
“with all due respect tf is dame doing here, and why is Larry not pictured”
“They snuck in dame like he really in the conversation lol”
“So James Harden doesn’t exist?”
“What about Peja??? The greatest shooter of all time”
“Peja Stojakovic needs to be mentioned more in this. As far as international players he’s probably #1”
“Yall gotta put Glenn Rice in there”
“I love dame but why do people keep throwing him in conversations where he don’t belong lmao”
“Whoever made this is 24. Clearly never saw Bird play.”
“Ummmmm…..Dale Ellis anybody?”
“So Kobe Never Existed?”
“where is manu”
“Not sure how you leave Mark Price, Steve Kerr or the IceMan off this list”
A majority seems to question why Lillard is on there and while the Blazers guard has dazzled us with many deep three-pointers during his career, his shooting percentages do not stack up well when compared to the other four. Lillard shoots just 37.3% from beyond the arc and Miller was the lowest among the rest at 39.5%, while Allen, Thompson, and Curry are all at 40% or above.
There is no doubt, as we mentioned earlier, that Lillard is one of the best shooters of his time, but he is definitely not in the top 5 on the all-time list. His range is perhaps up there with Steph, but when it comes down to consistency, he is nowhere near the other four.
