Trae Young knows a thing or two about shooting a basketball and during a recent appearance on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, he was asked to name the five best ones in the NBA today. With there being no shortage of great shooters in the league, it can be hard to come up with a solid top five but Young managed to do it.
“Steph (Curry), (Damian Lillard), myself,” Young said. “I feel like Klay (Thompson), Klay is still a top shooter, and my teammate (Bogdan) Bogdanovic.”
(starts at 15:52 mark):
Stephen Curry is an obvious pick in any list of top shooters, as he is the greatest shooter in NBA history. Curry actually struggled a bit from beyond the arc by his high standards last season, as he shot just 40.8% from three. When that’s considered a down year, though, you know someone’s a ridiculously good shooter.
Damian Lillard was the next selection and is another fairly obvious pick. Lillard only managed to shoot 35.4% from beyond the arc last season but remains one of the deadliest marksmen around.
Interestingly, Lillard hit only 35.6% of his shots from 25-29 feet last season but went 40.3% on shots from 30-39 feet. He shot better from further back and that’s why many argue that his range is even greater than that of Curry.
Young then chose himself and he shot 37.3% from three last season. He’s another one with terrific range and often pulls up from well beyond the arc, which ends up hurting his percentages a bit.
Klay Thompson was the fourth selection and Young believes he is still one of the finest shooters around despite a disappointing end to last season. Thompson infamously went 0-10 from three in his last game for the Golden State Warriors against the Sacramento Kings in the Play-In Tournament but did shoot 38.7% from beyond the arc last season.
I am not sure I would still have Thompson on my list, but he is one of the best snipers we have ever seen. Perhaps we will see him get back to his best with the Dallas Mavericks in 2024-25.
For the final spot, Young went with his Atlanta Hawks teammate Bogdan Bogdanovic. Bogadnovic’s shooting prowess was on full display at the Paris Olympics, as he shot 46.2% from beyond the arc. He also shot a respectable 37.4% from three in the NBA last season.
So, I don’t think Young made any egregious selections there. As for who else has a case to make it in, I think Grayson Allen had the strongest one. Allen led the NBA last season by shooting 46.1% from beyond the arc on 5.9 attempts per game. He was simply deadly from deep.
Trae Young Named The Five Hardest Guards To Guard
Later on in this episode of the podcast, Young was asked to name who he considers the hardest guards to guard in the NBA and he went with some big names. (starts at 51:01 mark in the above video)
“(Kyrie Irving), Steph, Dame, Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander), Ja (Morant),” Young said.
With the NBA having so many great guards, though, Young couldn’t just stop at five. He mentioned Luka Doncic as another tough opponent to defend and stated it seems like you face a great guard every night in the NBA, regardless of how bad a team might be.
Young brought up great examples like Cade Cunningham on the Detroit Pistons and LaMelo Ball on the Charlotte Hornets, of great guards on poor teams. While some of his teammates might be able to get a bit of a breather on the defensive end against those teams, he doesn’t.
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