Who Are The Top 5 Shooters In NBA History? 

Jerry West - Jerry West - Jerry West; believe it or not, the NBA started in 1946, not 1980. Jerry West was an assassin who took all the clutch shots . . . and made them long before Stephon Curry or Damian Lillard were a twinkle in their father's eye. Any greatest shooter list without Jerry West is just some young generation X person who disregards history.

Larry bird hands down if he was able to stay healthy he was hurt and still sunk them from anywhere he would tell you what he was going to do and you still could not stop him

If during the time of Sam Jones of Celtics and Jerry West of the Lakers the NBA already has ,the 3 point system, I can't imagine their numbers

There was a player in the '70's named Downtown Freddie Brown, who played for the Seattle Sonics. He had great range but unfortunately played before the 3-point line was implemented in the NBA. He was an outstanding long-range shooter.

Dražen Petrović Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf aka Chris Jackson These two had short lived Careers in the NBA they were deadly shooters.

If Drazen Petrovic lived long enough, he would have been up there…

Pete Maravich is the greatest shooter ever.The only year he played with the three point line he was ten fir fifteen as an old man with bad knees .If Maravich played with the three point line his entire career his numbers would be mind boggling

Ray and Steff learned off ball movement from Reggie

The "Who's playing for 2nd?" quote is from the initial 3 point contest, 1986.

Jerry West, agreed...this uploader needs to take an nba history class

pete maravich

Ok you got Reggie above Larry Bird? What did Reggie say about the comparison? HE would take Larry.

Keep it up bro🎉

Stef is not in birds class

There is a reason Jerry West is the logo. The best criterion is the player’s shooting percentage when the shot can win the game. Using this criterion BIRD & WEST are head and shoulders above the rest of the rest!

People always argue with me, but I always say that Glen Rice is a better 3pt shooter than Reggie Miller. Glen Rice was more efficient. The stats and averages also provide proof on my side. Reggie was a volume and momentum shooter. Don't give him momentum because then good luck stopping him.

Cool video, but do you think the NBA only started in 1980!? I can’t take any top shooter list seriously without the great Jerry West in it. You can’t penalize the guy because he didn’t have a 3pt line. West would completely school your top 5 list. Also no mention of Pistol Pete, Rick Barry, Drazen Petrovic. Come on man, respect the greats that came before cable TV, social media and cell phones. One other guy I’m sure you’ve never heard of because he didn’t play in the NBA, Oscar Schmidt of Brazil. Easily one of the greatest shooters ever.

Steph Curry , Larry Bird, Ray Allen. Brian Winters. Then a long list for the last spot , Cazzie Russell, Clay Thompson, Chris Mullin, Tim Legler ( short career though ) Petro , Jerry West , Reggie Miller and several others

This should be easy. Once go over a certain usage threshold we only need to look at points per possession used. Shot selection is part of shooting. If it wasn't, we just give it to shot beauty kings like Vince Carter or JR Smith. We have to take credit away from people who miss because they aren't choosing the best shots.

Bird is #2. This content creator was clearly born in the 2000s and never watched Bird, on anyone else before the 2000s, play. Just because he wasn't chucking up 10 threes a game, eh? Also, clutch should matter and NOBODY was more clutch than Larry.

Ought to make two separate Top 5 lists: Before and After the 3 point line.

Bird didn't need 17 screens to take his shot off...

Top 5 shooters (in n o particular order): 1. Jerry West 2. Steve Nash 3. Steph Curry 4. Larry Bird 5. Ray Allen I included Bird and Nash because Bird shot 90/50/40 twice and Nash accomplished those numbers in a season 4 times. Bird also shot those percentages over a 5 year span. Curry is the greatest deep shooter of all-time, Jerry West was an amazing shooter that played during the pre-3 era. Ray Allen was just a great shooter period and shot 40% from 3 for his career.

It sounds interesting, honestly I never heard about the Jerry West's skill as clutcher

I think Nash might deserve a spot on the list, because while he might not have had the highest volume, when his team needed him he often increased his volume especially in playoff games without a drop in efficiency.

Michael Redd, Craig Hodges and Mark Price. 3 sleepers picks

The greatest midrange/jump shooter in history is without question Jordan. He shot 50% for his career shooting predominantly midrange jumpers from all over the court and even with those last couple of seasons he played into his 40s that obviously hurt that percentage. Had he practiced shooting 3s and implemented them into his game I think he would have been right up there with anybody but he simply didn't see shooting 3s as a viable way to score. MJ's shooting form is the most perfect I've ever seen. It was absolutely textbook.

Great list! Where would you place Dirk? I would say Dirk is only slightly behind KD - he has very slightly worse efficiencies from 3, midrange, and FT, and has slightly more cumulative 3pts.

Nowitzki, Maravich, Drazen Petrovic

Wow - could you imagine how it would be if three of these players were on the same team? That team would probably go to the finals 3 straight years and, barring massive injuries, would win 3 straight titles.

Mahmoud Abdul Raif!

In the era before 3s, Bill Sharman and Rick Barry

top 5 is tough, but Bird not on there? Only reason he wouldn't be is playing in an era where players took less 3's, as a shooter, he was ridiculous and the only guy mentioned in this video that had 3 league MVP's. If its best 3 point shooter, I could leave Bird off the list due to lack of volume, but as an overall shooter, no, he belongs he was incredibly efficient and his teams were winning with him being the dominant player.

Bird ,Luka ,Curry and Reggie ,Ray

WATCHING NBA SINCE ITS BEGINNING & HERE ARE MY TOP 5, NUMBER 5 IS KLAY THOMPSON, NUMBER 4 IS REGGIE MILLER, NUMBER 3 IS STEPH CURRY, NUMBER 2 IS RAY ALLEN & NUMBER 1 IS LARRY BIRD, LARRY WON 3 STRAIGHT 3 POINT CONTESTS WITH GREAT SHOOTERS ALL IN THOSE GAMES, WHEN YOU NEED A 3 POINT SHOT TO WIN & EVERYONE ON THE OTHER TEAM, THE ARENA & TV LAND KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO GET THE BALL & YOU STILL COME THROUGH AND YOU DEMANDED THE BALL, I HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE PLAYER HIT SO MANY LAST SECOND 3 POINTERS, AND AS PAT RILEY SAID, IF MY LIFE IS ON THE LINE FOR ONE SHOT TO SAVE MY LIFE, YOU GIVE IT TO LARRY BIRD!!! I WATCH A DVD ON HIM CALLED LARRY LEGEND & I SCREAMED SO MANY TIMES SAYING NO ONE CAN DO THAT!!! GLAD YOU PLAYED IN MY LIFETIME LARRY BIRD, THEY WON'T PUT YOU IN THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME, WHETER IT'S POLITICS, RACE, OR WHATEVER, YOU & OSCAR ROBERTSON ARE THE 2 BEST ALL AROUND PLAYERS THE NBA HAS EVER SEEN!!! THANK YOU LARRY LEGEND BIRD!

When the poop hits the fan you want the ball in Magic or Larry’s orMJ’s hand.

My top 5 are (no particular order): Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, Ray Allen, Larry Bird

If they guard by Worthy,Cooper,or Kareem can they do that with all the 80 rules? What is your opinion?

Larry Bird Jerry West Pistol Pete Reggie Miller Ray Allen

Yeah, of course the list is going to be populated with current players if one of the bigger criteria's is amount of usage. Considering the 3ball attempts is constantly going up and up ever since the 2000s, you're basically rigging the list to favour the modern NBA player, the more modern, the better. Hell, the NBA even had to shorten the 3point line for a couple of years to ENCOURAGE players to attempt the shot more. The man who invented the 50/40/90 club isn't even in the top 5 shooting? I didn't even hear Jerry West mentioned, one of the best shooters in the 60s. This isn't a list of the top 5 shooters in NBA history. This is a list of top 5 volume 3point shooters of all time.

The criteria used are skewed to answer a more general question. Larry Bird is a Top 5 Shooter. Jerry West should also be considered.

Got to love when kids make a top x list.

No Kapono/Korver? Thumbs down. Jk m8 thanks for the content, great video

Bird should be top of this 5, the best shooter of all time, contested , difficult shot, and clutch jumphot, he is all around player, but if you make him shoot everytime, then he will be deadly than steph

Players that should get their just due: M. Price, Chris Jackson and the player I personally patented my shot after...Glen Rice

Mahmoud Rauf 😤

Kd not being here is insane lol

Bird and Reggie were shooting with people hanging on them. Bird didn’t have speed to get open like the little guys but still shot lights out. Behind the backboard, over 2 people, it didn’t matter, he was the best.

Mark Price

i wonder if this video maker knows that the nba history goes back 70+ years

I know it is the NBA list, but…..Louie Dampier for sure. Plus four vowels in his name, in a row?!?

Opinion. 1 Steph 2 Ray 3 Reggie 4 Jerry West 5 Klay 6 Disputed: Kerr, Bird, et al.

George Gervin anyone? Check out "The Iceman's" volume and FG%. Didn't look pretty but...I mean...check the numbers.

Why ya´ll doing Allan Houston so dirty?

all right you chumps here it is: best variety of shots all over court larry bird, best 3pt shooter curry, best classical point guard shooters (and curiously best ft shooters) Mark Price and Steve Nash, best hot/streak shooter Klay Thompson, since I named two shooters about equal in the pg, I'll say best percentage play/opportunist shooter Steve Kerr. bonus, Best shooters whose careers ended early to compare to longer playing shooters due to death or blackball: Petrovic and Mahmoud Abdul Raouff

Without bird Invalid

Ray Allen and Dirk Nowitzki

BIRD#1

top 10,,, dirk,kyrie,dame,kd,klay,nash,reggie,allen,bird,steph hon mentions(harden, vince, booker,petrovich, maravich, MJ,seth curry)

And Rick Barry number 3

Klay is not a top 5 shooter of all time because he was never a first option?

I will throw an outside the box shooter....Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.....his sky hook was the most effective shot before the crazy 3 point shooting era. Jabbar could hit it from 15' and no one could stop it. Jerry West, Mark Price, Steve Nash were textbook shooters.

Crazy ray never led in ft% man had 12 seasons shooting over 90% from the line and a career 89%

If you are going to show someone how to shoot a jump shot, Ray Allen is it, perfect form, balance and follow through.

Chris Mullens

Larry Legend all day! Nowaday players are stat padders in a no-touch offense based era and STILL the stats are not that impressive.

The title must be "The Top 5 Shooters In NBA History Except MJ".

Best mid-range pure jump shooter of all time is Calvin Murphy. Nobody even close. Go find some old video of him, his jumper was a thing of beauty. He was 5'9" and had almost a 50% career FG percentage, which is ridiculous for anybody, but for somebody of his stature, it's off the charts.

Can't take Klay over Bird because as we've seen over the past few seasons, Klay is an average shooter off the dribble, elite off the catch but Bird got it off however.

I'm sorry . This list is all about the modern era. The game today is nothing like the game in the 80's and 90's. Everyone tries the play the outside game . Very little inside play. You can't touch anybody or you get fouled. Plus , the 3 point line just became a thing the year Bird entered the NBA . Bird was shooting 3's and hitting 40 to 50% more then the rest of the leauge . He is the founding member of 50, 40, 90 club. He could hit shots from anywhere . He was a great rebounder in an era where is was more physical. Bird was a good and smart defender . Let's not forget 3 world titles , 3 3 point contest wins and Back to Back to Back MVP's . Birds game would translate to today and he would be a force in the league. I won't take away anything from players that came before Bird. I'm using him as an example . It's not hard to be the greates shooters of all time when all todays game is mid range and distance shooting.

By emphasizing 3-point shooting so heavily this list excludes the majority of NBA history. You should have at least tried to devise some metric to include players from earlier eras. Admittedly hard, but you didn’t name this video the best shooters from the 3-point era.

I've got Klay second. Ray third. Dame 4th. Reggie 5th.

You actually made a video of shooters and left off Pete Maravich.

Funny

pistol pete

I would never take Klay Thompson over LarryBird.

I know I'm the only one saying this.. personally i dont think steph is a shooter but the most "revolutionary outside scorer" that ever played

This is meaningless unless you are comparing each to his era. If you want best of "all time" in nearly any sport the top 5 are all from the current generation and there's are reasons why that's the case. It's not as interesting as looking across eras for the most "revolutionary" athletes. This generation... it's Steph who revolutionized shooting. No other current player can be considered revolutionary as they have not advanced our understanding of the skill for the sport as a whole. Bird is probably 2d given he was the first to introduce the idea of "volume" (3 per game) or using the 3 during the normal course of the game rather than only as a last second desperation shot or only when a team was behind late in the 4th quarter. Bird is also responsible for making the 3 "popular". Guys at your local court started practicing 3s after Bird's 3 pt. contest triumphs that showed how high a percentage was possible. I think Jerry West deserves a spot in the top 5. He was the predecessor to Steph in many ways. In the 60s a guard wasn't supposed to score 30 a game relying on a mid to long range shooting game. Maravich was known to be a revolutionary long range shooter, but he was only able to take a few 3s in I think his final season. His form was levels above nearly every other player of his era. For my 5th and last, perhaps Ray Allen who redefined accurate high volume 3 pt. shooting in the years leading up to the Steph era.

Before this video even get started I know three of them. Reggie Miller Stephen Curry Klay Thompson. I know them for sure I’m guessing Steve Kerr who knows after that. OK the video is at 47 seconds and I seen Ray Allen’s face so we’ll go with him as well. OK now I’m going to watch the video in it’s entirety

I agree with your list. I am pleasantly surprise Hardin wasn't 5 but I actually agree with Kevin Durant over Hardin.

Warriors best 5 Steph, gilbert arenus, klay, Durant, Demarcus cousins

You crazy son, Jerry West was the greatest shooter ever. No credit given to Walt Frazier, Rick Barry, or Freddie Brown to mention a few truly great shooters.

Curry is a bad clutch player. Ray Allen and Bird would be more significant both in and out of the 3 point zone. Maybe if they tried to shoot the 3 at will, they may have made a more interesting record but that wasn't the playing style back then. Not to mention that you could bully perimeter shooters unlike today.

Totally ignores players before the three point era. Jerry West , Pete Maravich, Fred Brown, Calvin Murphy, Rick Barry. I could go on, but basketball wasn’t invented in 1980. Elgin Baylor had a 70 point game back in the day and scored over 50 numerous times. Today’s players stand on the shoulders of giants….

Larry Bird? Not included?

Jr smith has the prettiest jump shot like him or not

Good list but I’m surprised Harden wasn’t even mentioned as an option. I know efficiency is a factor but volume has to at least get him a mention.

LARRY BIRD, then the rest.

And where's the Iceman George Gervin. If Iceman is not on your list, then your title is phony.

Leaving Larry Bird off this list invalidates all opinions you may have on NBA basketball. His only weakness is that he played before volume 3pt shooting became a thing? Ok, then simply say it is a list of the greatest shooters of the 21st century. Remember, Larry Bird grew up in a world where the three point line didn't exist.

Dražen Petrović the best complete player what means also and shooter

The recency bias of you young folks kills me. You think because a a dude jacks up a lot of shots, it makes him a better shooter. I'll take Bird, Maravich, West, Robertson, etc. over all these cats playing in the wide open era of no defense and 42 three-point attempts per night. Steph would be shut down in the 70's-90's, nobody would have any use for a skinny 6' 3", three point specialist. Same with Durant, just a tall skinny guy would would havr his a$$ knocked around and his shot slapped in a different era. I watched in person, not grainy RU-vid videos, the NBA since the 1970's. Bird was the Coldest Dude Ever, that I personally witnessed. I take Bird over Curry in any shooting contest, threes, free-throws, mid-range, what-evs. Little Steph would get his weak stuff rejected against real big men, while the players I mentioned were big and tough (both mentally and physically) enough to still do their thing. Imagine Little Steph against Michael Cooper, when on the rare occasion Cooper allowed him to have the ball, that stuff would get swatted, and Steph would be on the bench. Nowadays, these mentally weak floppers get no physical defense, resulting in wide open shots, and you young guys overestimate their ability as a result. Bird playing today would average 38/14/12 against this weak stuff, and then check out in the 3rd, with a 20 point lead as he felt no need to pad stats against a beaten opponent. For you young-uns who think Bird was just a shooter, he blocked more shots per game then Le-bum, had more steals per game than the "King", was a better shooter, far superior rebounder, and better defender everywhere on the court. Since you all like stats, check out Birds "Defensive Wins Shares" vs. Le-Bum. Bird ranks higher if you want to save time. I'll take the "Chosen One" in a dunk contest however. Whoopee.

Where’s klay?

I noticed you did not use shooting percentage. So you do not have a true reading of who is the best shooter. Statistics do not lie. Question would Curry be in the NBA if there was not a three point shoot? Chances are Curry would not be in the NBA.

You put Damian Lillard and didn't put Jerry West? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Sorry with your fake metrics, so sorry because your metrics and their designer did not asset or evaluate the characteristics and the context of each player and shoot. For instance if I was on the shoes of NBA Coach team and I need to made the last move with only 5-19 seconds with 2 point behind in the score and I have on hand MJ, Larry Bird, Stephen Curry🎉, Drazen Petrovic, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen and Toni Kukoc. Y'know who was my best potion? Well, would choose in that order to Larry Bird, MJ or Drazen Petrovic, Reggie Miller or Ray Allen. I saw many years ago how Stephen Curry fail in the NBA 2019-20 against Toronto Raptor in the sixth game he missed the last three-point shot and on and on and on.. I'm a fan of warriors however I'm not a blind spectator if not I know about basketball and a Data Analytics being the statistic a science of data that can be misundertand by many so-called talk show on social media. In my humble opinion in critics situation Larry Bird was a real sniper, a hunter with cold blood in the same way MJ was a sniper under pressure in fourth quarters he's gonna kill you, Drazen Petrovic was other beast with the same firm: Kill the rival with 3-point shot, the same mentality had Reggie, Ray and Toni Kukoc. Finally this year with 35 years old, finally Stephen began to show the mentality of Clutch being this opinion about the Ckutcher, the most valuable and lethal NBA's sniper or three point shooter capable to shot the target with only 5-10 secs. Neither quantity nor global average it is about getting the last winner shot for his team

You do realise the arguments for curry and durant @12:25 are pure stats.... and some arguments for the others are opinions or nonstats to make up for what they lack vs durant or curry. Reggie miller NON stats: retired 1st made threes (u allready mention hes 4th alltime), ice in his veins (stat?), good off/on-ball shooter (curry isnt? wheres the stats). Damian lillard NON stats: shoots from distance, shoots off dribble (curry and durant dont do this????) Ray Allen NON stats: elite shooter...... (okay, the rest isnt?), played before modern 3point strategy (so what? that made his looks more open), greatest made shot in nba history (opinion... nice!)

I'm sorry but I disagree with this list quite a bit. Larry bird is a better shooter than at least 4 of these guys and possibly all of them. 3 pointers made is not a valid look at what makes a shooter great. I would argue jordan should be on this this list too. The clutch value and efficiency that they shot with is off the charts. This just screams unimaginative and bias towards the 3 ball game they play today

I understand your criteria, but Steve Kerr holds the career three point shooting percentage record and that puts him in my top five. Sure he was a role player, but his role was to make three point shots…

Ray Allen is not top 5 anymore. Maybe he could've been if he came up a few years later, but the same can be said about a lot of dudes.