5 Best Shooters in NBA History

Getting the ball into the hoop is an important part of basketball and the NBA has produced some real shooting wizards. Throughout NBA history there have been players who have showcased their unique shooting skills. While a few among them were good with mid-range jumping, a few of them were unbelievable from inside the paint. The nimble-fingered shooters are part of the game who play a pivotal role in taking a team to the winning end. The more proficient shooters a team has, the more there are chances of coming up as winners.

When the league witnessed a key shift from big men dominating the field, the emergence of three-point specialists started taking place. These prolific three-point specialists were pretty good at making shots from over 30 feet (ca. 9 m). However, irrespective of the stature or anything that was common among these players — it was that they had all acquired extraordinary art of shooting through every game they played.

We have bird dogged cream of the crop shooters from NBA history for you. Let us read to know about them and what made them stand out in the crowd. Let’s get started:

1. Stephen Curry

The kind of accuracy and creativity that Curry used to pour into every shot he played had never been seen throughout NBA history. His prodigious ability to get the perfect shot done from any part of the field was unbelievable sometimes.

The far-fetched theory of becoming an exemplary figure just at a young age of 29 was in itself an achievement. At this young age, he had left too many records to be broken. In fact, there is nothing to debate about Curry. Stephen, for the kind of shots he pulled off, he is considered the sixth-most accurate 3-point shooter in NBA history.

In addition to being a great 3-point shooter, he is an amazing off-ball mover and can play prolifically from the mid-range. Indeed, he could throw all kinds of shots at his opponents. Searching for Curry’s kind of volume and efficiency & coherence is not possible even in a million years. In the last season, he extirpated his record by making three-pointers in a season with 402. From behind the arc, he shot better than 45 percent.

2. Ray Allen

On this list of top shooters in NBA history who played the most elegant shots — Ray Allen is one of the most important names. The combinations of shots he played with a speedy release and almost near-perfect mechanics made him too impeccable a player. He is also one of those players who played the best shots in NBA history. The greatest endorsements for routine in the entire NBA history, Allen is one player who had maintained his predefined pregame regimen for so many years (throughout his career). He made himself ready for every contest by taking almost 300 shots through the court with different degrees of motion. That was simply incredible!

And many of us have no idea that he was an infallible marksman for the Bucks, and sonic much before he helped the Big 3 Celtics to earn the championship. Ray has always been a champion in three-pointers in NBA history who had got the potential to shoot exactly 40 percent from behind the arc, and he had kept doing that throughout his career.

3. Klay Thompson

There may be arguments on how Thompson deserves to be in this list, for, he has not been there in the league for that long so that one can make a clear judgment on his abilities. But, ask any of his Splash Sibling teammates and you would know why he deserves being in the list even when he was not there for long enough. The fact that for not a single game (his first six NBA seasons) he had shot below 40 percent from behind the arc makes him an amazing shooter.

In addition to that Thompson is the only player to have the record of making most pointers in a single game with 14. In one of his games, he stunned his fans by scoring 60 points in just 11 dribbles and 29 minutes. Undoubtedly Curry was a gem shooter for the NBA, but Thompson’s energy was incredible. He literally burnt the net with his hotshots.

4. Reggie Miller

Like other top players on this list, Miller did not have those aesthetically pleasant shots for his fans, but he definitely somehow got his job done. And, he played the most spectacular shot of his time when he stole Game 1 scoring eight shots in nine seconds — that was one of the most amazing games he played against the Knicks at MSG in 1995, Eastern Conference Semifinals. Throughout NBA history, it was only Ray Allen who stood on top of Miller.

There was also a time when Miller was regarded as the greatest shooter of NBA history. Before the arrival of Allen, Miller played the leader in made 3-pointers with 2,560 shots through the course of his career. He is behind Allen with 2,973 shots and could be passed by Curry with 2,285 in the near future.

5. Larry Bird

Larry Bird — he was known popularly for Trash talk and more than his ability to make that up. Per one popular story from the 1988 All-Star Game, he curled his lip at his opponent asking, “who was planning on coming in the second,” when he entered the locker-room. And, he won the game making it his third consecutive triumph in the event.

Larry could literally shoot from anywhere on the floor with his amazing shooting style. He had topped 40 percent from behind the arc six times, had led the NBA in free-throw percentage four times, and is one among the only eight members of the vaunted 50-40-90 club. He made 90 percent of his free throws, 40 percent of his 3-pointers, and 50 percent of his field goals in the seasons 1987-88 & 1986-87. Of the plethora of skills Bird showcased, all through his career, shooting is the best thing one must talk about.