Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum has started the 2021 season on an absolute tear. Where does the 29-year-old rank amongst the NBA’s best shooters?
CJ McCollum has been in the conversation around the league’s best shooters for a while now. The Portland Trail Blazers guard has consistently been one of the best mid-range and three-point shooters since he entered the league. As a mid-range specialist and tough shot maker, he is one of the most versatile three-level scores playing today. In a recent ESPN graphic, McCollum actually leads the entire league in scoring from one part of the floor.
To break down the league’s best shooters, you need to understand the difference between high and low volume guys, and then see that these players can make shots from mid-range, from three, and from the line.
At 29, McCollum is at his peak. Where does he rank amongst the NBA’s best shooters?
Shooter #10 – Khris Middleton
Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks is one of the purest bucket gutters in the entire league.
At six-foot-seven, playing the small forward position, Middleton has a three-level game that involves off the dribble jumpers and a catch and shoot game that has benefitted heavily from Bucks teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Middleton was a strong shooter earlier in his career, but he has gotten even better over the last few years. He has twice hit the magical 50 percent from the mid-range mark, while also hitting 90 percent from the free-throw line in the 2020 season.
What puts Middleton on this list ahead of other low volume guys in JJ Redick and Joe Harris, is his 20 point per game average over the last three and a bit years. Being able to average these types of numbers on significant volume separates him from the lower volume players.
Middleton hasn’t had the playoff success efficiency-wise, so that’s why he sits at number nine.
Career stats
Mid-range – 45.2 percent
Three pointer Percentage – 39.4 percent
Free Throw Percentage – 87.8 percent
True Shooting Percentage – 57.3 percent
Shooter #9 – Paul George
Paul George of the LA Clippers isn’t universally recognized as a great shooter, but he has two elite skills in that regard. He is one of the best free-throw shooters in the game, and one of the best high volume shooters.
George is a tough shot maker who can come off screens at six-foot-eight, can hit shots off the dribble, and can hit off the catch from any part of the court.
Though he isn’t strong from the mid-range, George generates most of his efficiency from a career -rate of 6.4 attempts a game from three.
He is an elite shooter who has yet to show his best in the playoffs. But, he is still only 30, so has time to prove himself yet.
Career stats
Mid-range – 39 percent
Three pointer Percentage – 34.4 percent
Free Throw Percentage – 84.7 percent
True Shooting Percentage – 56.8 percent
Shooter #8 – CJ McCollum
CJ McCollum sits on the top ten’s edge, as one of the league’s best shot creators. McCollum uses off the dribble shots from both the mid-range and three with an elite combination of dribble moves. He makes Kobe Bryant-like threes while off balance or on the run.
McCollum is one of the best tough shot makers in the league: many of his shots have a high degree of difficulty. As a free throw shooter, his numbers have been up and down through his career, but he is still above the magic 80 percent number from that distance.
McCollum is a three-level shooter who may only just be hitting his peak now. Though he has an injury at the moment which forces him to miss a month of action, he leads the league in made threes at the time of publishing of this piece.
Career stats
Mid-range – 46 percent
Three pointer Percentage – 39.9 percent
Free Throw Percentage – 82.8 percent
True Shooting Percentage – 55.3 percent
Shooter #7 – Chris Paul
Future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Chris Paul, is one of the greatest mid-range shooters ever to grace a basketball court. At around 47 percent for his career, Paul is an expert proponent of the mid-range. He has always been a pick and roll savant, with the ability to get the defender on his back and then pullup from a range of spots inside the arc.
Paul has never made an NBA Finals, but he has been just as efficient in the playoffs as he was in the regular season.
He is one of the greatest free-throw shooters in NBA History as well. Paul is the guy you want to have the ball in his hands at the end of games. He has hit countless tough shots from all over the court in his NBA career.
Career stats
Mid-range – 47.5 percent
Three pointer Percentage – 36.9 percent
Free Throw Percentage – 87.1 percent
True Shooting Percentage – 58.2 percent
Shooter #6 – Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving, like McCollum, is an elite tough shot maker. He has a multitude of different shots, and combines those with one of the best handles in the game. He is one of the best off the dribble shooters also. Like most of these guys that are high on this list, Irving is elite from all three spots.
He can pullup from the mid-range or catch and shoot from most spots beyond the arc. He has great depth on his three, and has off-ball movement to come off screens for shots too.
Irving has proven all these skills at the highest level in the playoffs too. He has one of the biggest made shots in NBA Finals history for the Cleveland Cavaliers, ultimately winning an NBA Championship after a made three.
Career stats
Mid-range – 44 percent
Three pointer Percentage – 39.1 percent
Free Throw Percentage – 87.8 percent
True Shooting Percentage – 57.3 percent
Shooter #5 – Klay Thompson
If Klay Thompson never plays another NBA game, he will still go down as one of the greatest shooters to ever grace a basketball court.
Thompson has some of the most iconic shooting games in NBA History. He holds the NBA record for made threes – at a whopping 14. And he has the famous 60 points in three-quarters game too.
Klay’s strength is his ice-cold shot-making, and some of the most efficient three-point shooting ever seen on an NBA court. Klay isn’t at special rates in terms of his mid-range or free throw but still hits them higher than most of the league.
On threes, Klay’s career rate is a whopping 41.9 percent, on a massive volume of seven attempts a game.
Klay is about to miss his second consecutive season due to a torn Achilles, but he will return in 2022 to regain his place higher on this list.
Career stats
Mid-range – 44 percent
Three pointer Percentage – 41.9 percent
Free Throw Percentage – 84.8 percent
True Shooting Percentage – 57.5 percent
Shooter #4 – Damian Lillard
McCollum’s Blazer teammate Damian Lillard is one of the greatest volume shooters in the NBA, and has done things from the three-point line that have never been seen before.
His shooting from depth in the 2019/20 season was something to behold. No player has ever made that many threes beyond 30-feet, and Lillard did at over 40 percent as well.
Few players can shoot off the dribble as Lillard can – he can pull up in an instant, and gets large amounts of separation for a small guard.
Not only can he shoot the three at great volume and strong efficiency, but he is also one of the best free-throw shooters in NBA History. He creates contact so well and goes to the line at some of the league’s highest rates.
Dame has eliminated a lot of the midrange from his game, but still hits these at around 42 percent.
Lillard is also just getting into his prime as well. Hitting the magic mark of 40 percent from three for the first time in the 2020 season, he joins Michael Jordan and Curry as the only two players to achieve this on 30 points per game.
Career stats
Mid-range – 42 percent
Three pointer Percentage – 37.3 percent
Free Throw Percentage – 89.0 percent
True Shooting Percentage – 58.0 percent
Shooter #3 – James Harden
One of the most polarizing players in NBA History, James Harden is one of the greatest scorers to ever play. Harden’s ‘ Morey-Ball ‘ style of play may not be the same as it was now he has left the Houston Rockets, but his amazing shot creation abilities won’t change.
Harden, like Lillard, is one of the best free-throw components in the NBA. He hits them at a spectacular rate too.
Harden’s greatest skill though, is his three-pointer. Mainly off the dribble as a stepback or sidestep, he attempted more threes per game than any player in NBA History in the 2018/19 season.
Though his three-point efficiency will never rival his contemporaries, this doesn’t mean he isn’t a great shooter. Only Curry has ever made threes at the rate Harden has, and now he is on the Brooklyn Nets, he will have spacing alongside him that he’s never had before.
Career stats
Mid-range – 40 percent
Three pointer Percentage – 36.3 percent
Free Throw Percentage – 85.9 percent
True Shooting Percentage – 61.1 percent
Shooter #2 – Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant is a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer and one of the top five scorers in NBA History. Very few players have scored at the levels he has, at the efficiency he has.
Durant and Curry, are the only two players in NBA History to average close to the magical 50 / 40 / 90 marks in their career. Durant is automatic from any spot on the floor, and has all the tricks in the book.
At six-foot-ten, his shot is unblockable, and he can hit off the dribble as easily as he can off the catch or coming off a screen.
Durant never changed his game when the three-point revolution came. His mid-range game is so good that he didn’t need to.
Durant is an all-time great, who is not only the second-best shooter in the NBA, but he is one of the best shooters ever.
Career stats
Mid-range – 45 percent
Three pointer Percentage – 38.2 percent
Free Throw Percentage – 88.2 percent
True Shooting Percentage – 61.3 percent
Shooter #1 – Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry is the greatest shooter in NBA History, so by default, he is the greatest shooter in the NBA at the moment.
No player has ever shot threes like Curry; he changed the game forever. His combination of off-ball movement, and confidence to pull up from any part of the floor, make him a freak of nature.
Usually, at the top of efficiency leaderboards, you have guys like Steve Kerr, who averaged 8 points per game in being the all-time leader in three-point shooting. But Curry, sits very close to the top of the leader-board, even though he averages a whopping 25 a game for his career.
Curry is also the all-time leader in free throw percentage at an amazing 90.7 percent.
His three-level scoring is some of the more impressive that’s been seen in this league. At 32, he isn’t done yet either.