Three-point shooting is a must if you want to win an NBA Championship nowadays. Low-post men, hardnosed centers, and driving scorers are all o the verge of extinction in modern basketball, or at least that’s how they’re making it feel nowadays.
It’s all about triples right now. You must give up on a wide-open long-range or mid-range jump shot and step backward to the three-point line or else you’ll be taking a ‘bad shot’, according to analytics, at least.
That’s why NBA players must work on their three-point shooting, especially those who haven’t been knocking down shots efficiently from the perimeter. Therefore, we’re going to let you know about the top 10 players that must work the most on his three-point shooting stroke, as we’ll list the top 10 worst three-point shooters of the season, according to ESPN.
10. Jae Crowder (31.8 3P%)
Jae Crowder is one of the best and most versatile wing defenders in the league. He can match up vs. power forwards thanks to his instincts and the way he uses his length, and most small forwards have a tough time going past him because of his strength.
Still, he’s far from being a 3-and-D player, as you can tell by his subpar 31.8% three-point shooting percentage. He’s never been much of a shooter except from the 2016-17 season and this year he’s regressed again, knocking down just 1.9 of his 6.1 attempts from beyond the arc per game.
10. Luka Doncic (31.8 3P%)
Luka Doncic is one of the greatest offensive talents the league has seen in decades. He can put defenders on skates and score in bunches from all three levels. That’s why several scouts and experts have compared his offense to Larry Bird’s.
What they don’t tell you is that Doncic’s stroke from beyond the arc is far from Bird’s in terms of efficiency. He’s shooting 31.8% from three (which is a slight regression from the 32.7% from his rookie year), knocking down 2.9 of his 9.1 three-pointers per game.
8. Nikola Jokic (31.4 3P%)
There was a time when we all thought Nikola Jokic was going to be one of the most efficient three-point shooters in the league, after knocking down 39.6% from three in the 2017-18 season. Now, we’ve lost pretty much all hope in that regard.
Jokic’s three-point shooting has regressed as drastically as his playmaking and court vision have improved over the past couple of seasons. Thus far, he’s making just 1.1 of his 3.5 three-pointers per game, which is good for just 31.4% shooting.
7. Spencer Dinwiddie (30.8 3P%)
Spencer Dinwiddie is great a lot of things. He’s a smart businessman, one of the best backup point guards in the league, and a solid scorer. Three-point shooting, however, isn’t clearly one of his biggest strengths, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll ever be.
Dinwiddie is a career 31.8% shooter from beyond the arc, which is slightly better to his current 30.8% shooting for this season. He’s knocking down just 1.9 of his 6.3 three-pointers per game, so perhaps he shouldn’t be taking that many triples.
6. Giannis Antetokounmpo (30.6 3P%)
We’ve heard it, read it, and said it over and over: Giannis Antetokounmpo is a three-point shot away from being a perfect player. It’s as simple as that, as his lack of range is the only thing that has exposed him in the playoffs thus far over his career.
Giannis has vastly improved his three-point shooting and it seems like he’ll get there one day but he’s just not ready yet. This season, he’s shooting 30.6% from three (which is a big improvement). He’s taking 4.8 triples per game and netting 1.5 of them.
5. Aaron Gordon (30.1 3P%)
Even if Dwyane Wade may disagree, Aaron Gordon is one of the greatest dunkers in the history of the game. He’s an outstanding rim-runner, a huge threat in the pick-and-roll, and an efficient finisher with both hands. A shooter? not so much, though.
Gordon had put a lot of work on his shooting stroke and it showed from time to time, but it vastly regressed once again as the season went by. This year, he’s shooting 30.1% from outside of the paint, knocking down 1.2 of his 3.9 three-pointers per game.
4. Jarrett Culver (29.9 3P%)
Everybody was pretty high on Jarrett Culver coming out of Texas Tech. He’s got the size, length, strength, and athleticism to become a dominant two-way player in the league, and that’s why he went as high as 6th in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Like most rookies, Culver’s development is taking some time. There’s a bit of a learning curve he’ll have to get above of, but his three-point shooting numbers are a bit concerning. He’s taking 3.5 triples a night but he’s only making 1.0 of those.
3. Kyle Kuzma (29.7 3P%)
Someone said that Kyle Kuzma has had more hairstyles than good games this season. While that may be a bit of a stretch, it’s pretty fair to say that he’s been one of the most disappointing players of the year following the offseason he had.
Kuzma vastly regressed with Anthony Davis in town and coming off the bench this season. His three-point shooting dropped from 32.7% to 29.7%, he’s taking a career-low 4.4 three-pointers per game, and also knocking down a career-low 1.3 of them.
2. Brook Lopez (29.6 3P%)
Everybody has given Brook Lopez a lot of praise for becoming a three-point shooter all of a sudden after taking a grand total of 31 three-pointers over his first 8 seasons in the league. However, we should take that statement of him being a three-point shooter with a grain of salt.
Yes, ‘The Splash Mountain’ is now a volume shooter from beyond the arc but his numbers have taken a major downfall from last year to this one. Thus far, he’s knocking down just 1.4 of his 4.7 three-pointers per game, which is good for 29.6%.
1. Jordan Poole (27.9 3P%)
And notably, Jordan Poole sits at the top of this infamous list. There was a lot of hype surrounding the Michigan standout, as everybody thought he’d be yet another Draft steal by the Golden State Warriors. So far, that has been far from the case.
Let aside his clear confidence issues and his PER of 7.2, Poole has been the worst three-point shooter in the league this season and by a long stretch. He’s netting 1.3 of his 4.6 triples per game but he was a 37% three-point shooter in college so there’s clearly some room for improvement, especially with the guidance of the Splash Brothers.
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