Best NBA three point shooters talk never really ends. Every time a new guard starts pulling from the logo, somebody claims the crown and somebody else fires back.
This list tries to slow that noise down a little. We are looking at the shooters who lived behind the line, stacked wild totals, kept their percentages strong, and hit shots that would get most players benched. Volume, efficiency, and shot difficulty, all pulled together instead of treated like separate arguments.
Some of these names are classic catch and shoot specialists. Some are on ball creators who bomb off the dribble from thirty feet or more. A few did both, which is why they sit near the very top. The order will bother someone, for sure. That is part of the fun with best NBA three point shooters debates.
Table of Contents
- Why three-point volume matters now
- Defining NBA three-point greatness
- What Comes Next
Why best NBA three point shooters matter
There was a time when the three was a bailout shot. End of the clock. End of the game. Maybe one specialist parked in the corner, and even that felt risky to some old school coaches.
Now the line is the league. Teams build full offenses around shooters who can stretch the floor from twenty five feet and beyond. The best NBA three point shooters change how defenses are allowed to breathe. One step too deep. One late switch. The scoreboard flips.
You see it in the numbers. All time leaders in makes are players from this recent era, and the attempts per game for guards have exploded compared with the nineties and early two thousands. The line did not move. The mindset did. The names on this list are the ones who forced that change.
Methodology: Rankings use official league stats and tracking data plus trusted analysis, give most weight to volume, efficiency and shot difficulty, and adjust for era and playoff impact when resumes are close.
Defining NBA three point greatness
14. Trae Young three point pressure
The picture that sticks with Trae Young is that bow at Madison Square Garden. Game in hand, series in reach, a pull up from way beyond the line that felt personal to every New York fan in the building. Then the quick bow at center court, like a villain taking a curtain call.
On paper his numbers are messy and loud at the same time. High turnover, high usage, and so many off the dribble threes that his percentage will never look as clean as a spot up shooter. He lives around three made threes per night on heavy attempts, many from deep range where most players never test the water.
The emotional part with Trae is the defiance. From college people compared him to Steph and told him what he was not. Then he walked into the league, pulled from the logo, and started turning road crowds into stages. One brand clip flat out said he had “called game from the logo” and “the rook is cold blooded.” It fits.
13. Buddy Hield three point confidence
Buddy Hield’s defining night, at least for now, came in a Game 7 that did not even feature him as the headliner on the scouting report. No Jimmy Butler, heavy traps on Steph Curry, and suddenly Buddy Hield is the one deciding a series with nine made threes and thirty-three points. The game never really felt safe for Houston once he got rolling.
Buddy sits in the top group of all time three point volume guys already, with more than two thousand makes and a career percentage right under forty percent. He has seasons near the top of the league in both total makes and attempts, and he rarely gets to feast on easy looks. Most of his threes come off quick relocations or early clock pull ups that keep defenses honest.
The thing that captures him best is a simple line. After one big night he said, “I never lose confidence. I am a shooter.” That mindset shows in the way he keeps firing through slumps. You can feel his teammates trust him as a release valve. When the ball swings to Buddy, everyone in the arena knows what is coming.
12. Peja Stojakovic deep range forward
Think back to early two thousands Sacramento. Arco Arena loud, cowbells ringing, and Peja Stojakovic gliding off screens with that high, calm release. One game he opened by hitting every shot in the first stretch, including a flurry of threes where the ball barely brushed the net. There is a clip where he hits ten threes and only one even touches the rim.
Peja led the league in made threes in the two thousand three season and regularly sat near forty percent on good volume for that era. The spacing he gave those Kings teams was rare for a forward at the time. In a league that still leaned on post ups and mid range isolations, he stretched defenses to places they did not want to go.
Later in life he looked at the modern game and said, “I would be more pleased if there was that greater discipline, especially at the end of the game, where you know who takes the shot.” That sounds exactly like a shooter who understood that late game threes are about trust as much as they are about range.
11. JJ Redick three point obsession
For JJ Redick, the defining images are not just his makes. It is the constant motion. Curling off pin downs in Los Angeles. Sprinting along the baseline in Philadelphia, catching, turning, firing before the defender even sees the ball. I still remember watching him warm up once and being exhausted just from tracking his routes.
His shooting numbers over a long career are brutal for defenses. Just under two thousand career threes, a career percentage over forty percent, and several seasons in the mid forties at decent volume. He was not a one dimensional spot up guy either. A big share of his attempts came sprinting off movement, with defenders attached to his jersey.
Redick once said, “I do not take a shot unless I expect to make it.” That line sums up everything. Teammates talk about his game day routines, his obsession with footwork, his demand for precise screens. You watch old tape and feel that seriousness. Every three was a test he expected to pass.
10. Steve Nash pure efficiency
Some shooters on this list chased raw totals. Steve Nash chased perfection. The lasting picture is not one single bomb, but year after year of pull ups in rhythm, corner threes when defenders ducked under, and a form that looked cloned every time. The ball left his hands the same way in empty gyms and in loud playoff arenas.
Nash did not rack up the same volume as modern high usage guards, yet the efficiency is absurd. He retired with around one thousand seven hundred made threes at a percentage in the low forties, and he joined the rare fifty forty ninety club multiple times. That combination of accuracy and shot selection is still a bar for every modern point guard who claims to value efficiency.
There are stories of Nash staying after practice just to hit one hundred free throws in a row, then starting over if he missed. People talk about his passing first, but his three point shooting forced defenses to pick their poison. Go under the screen and he punished you. Fight over and he read the next pass. For pure shooting craft, he belongs here.
9. Kyle Korver movement sniper
Best nights of Kyle Korver feel like math problems that broke. Defender on his hip, hand in his face, yet the ball keeps dropping the same way. One of those seasons in Utah he shot over fifty three percent from three, which looks fake when you see it in print.
Over his career he piled up more than two thousand made threes while bouncing between roles and teams. The percentages stayed high, often above forty percent, even when his usage climbed. His game was built on relentless movement, quick footwork into set feet, and barely any wasted motion at the top. Coaches trusted him to close games because they knew any small mistake by the defense could turn into three points.
At an event in his hometown, Korver told young players, “Shoot it to make it.” That sounds simple, but you can see the mindset in his film. No casual floaters from three. No lazy heat checks. Every release carried intent. Fans in places like Atlanta and Cleveland still talk about watching him hit four straight in a quarter and feeling the whole arena lean forward for the fifth.
8. Dirk Nowitzki seven footer spacer
The defining Dirk Nowitzki three is not even a catch and shoot. It is that trailing transition three, seven foot frame jogging into view, defender half a step late, and the ball barely moving the net. Or the one leg fade that started inside the arc and then moved out beyond it as his career went on.
Dirk finished with nearly two thousand threes at just under forty percent, which for a power forward in his era is wild enough. Add in the difficulty of many of those shots, often off one leg or out of face up moves, and his three point profile looks even better. His threat from the top of the floor opened space for guards and made Dallas a nightmare to guard in spread pick and pop sets.
LeBron James once called that one leg fade the second most unstoppable move he had ever seen. You feel that respect in how teams defended Dirk. Bigs were dragged away from the paint, wings were forced to guard higher than they wanted, and every made three from that high release made the building buzz in a different way because of who was taking it.
7. Kevin Durant effortless deep shooting
Kevin Durant is such a complete scorer that his three point shooting sometimes feels like an afterthought. Then you look up and see more than two thousand threes on his ledger at a percentage around thirty eight percent, many of them taken off the dribble over contested hands.
His pull up three over LeBron in the two thousand seventeen Finals is the clear defining moment. Left side, hand in his face, no play call needed. Just a long stride into rhythm and a jumper that felt like it came from a gym drill. That single shot changed that series, and it came from a seven footer who already terrified defenses inside the arc.
Durant once said, “I can score the basketball, but I think I can pass pretty well.” That is the calm way he talks about his game. Underneath that tone is a shooter who has seasons flirting with forty percent from deep on high difficulty attempts, international tournaments where he bombs away for Team USA, and a reputation among peers as a guy you simply cannot give air to above the break.
6. Reggie Miller three point swagger
Before the league tilted toward threes, Reggie Miller was already living there. The moment everyone remembers is eight points in nine seconds against the Knicks. Push off, catch in the corner, three. Steal, back to the line, another three. The Garden sound went from roar to stunned disbelief in less than half a minute.
Reggie retired with more than two thousand five hundred made threes at just under forty percent, all in an era with slower pace and fewer attempts. For years he sat second on the all time list, and he regularly finished seasons near the top in both makes and clutch attempts. His mechanics were not textbook pretty, but they were repeatable and fearless.
As a rookie, he tried to talk junk to Larry Bird and got hit with a classic response. Bird told him, “Rook, I am the best shooter in the league. And you are up here trying to tell me something.” That story says a lot about the world Reggie stepped into and then reshaped. He became the trash talking marksman other guards had to survive, and Indiana still sees him as the standard for tough threes taken in big moments.
5. Damian Lillard three point range
With Damian Lillard, the line is more suggestion than rule. The image that remains is that walk off three over Paul George from way behind the line, followed by the slow wave to Oklahoma City. Not many players would even try that shot with a season on the line. He took it like a rhythm pull up in November.
Lillard has more than two thousand eight hundred made threes, a career percentage in the upper thirties, and a huge share of those makes coming from thirty feet and beyond or off the dribble against full focus defenses. Tracking data and scouting reports both agree. His deep off the dribble volume sits near the very top of any list.
He once told a reporter, “I cannot have a good game without them saying, Oh, but Steph is better. If I shoot a deep three and people are like, Oh, that is Logo Lillard.” That line captures his reality. Always in Curry’s shadow, yet pioneering his own version of the same revolution. Fans in Portland still talk about the way the crowd holds its breath when he crosses half court with space.
4. James Harden step back storm
James Harden’s signature three is the step back above the break, defender on skates, crowd already reacting before the ball even hits the net. Entire playoff series have turned on that move. When he has the rhythm, the game starts to look unfair.
By the numbers, Harden has one of the strongest cases on this list. He sits second all time in made threes with more than three thousand and maintains a percentage in the mid thirties on a massive diet of self created attempts. One report noted he passed Ray Allen to move into that second spot while averaging more than eight attempts per game over his career.
Defenders and coaches talk about how impossible it is to guard his combination of handle, foul drawing, and step back range. I have watched possessions where three different players tried to contain him on one switch heavy set and still ended up looking over their shoulders at the scoreboard. For shot difficulty and volume together, Harden is near the top of any modern list, even if his game has always divided fans.
3. Klay Thompson three point eruptions
Game 6 in Oklahoma City is the book for Klay Thompson. Down big, season slipping away, he starts walking into threes like they are warmups. Eleven makes later, the Thunder are stunned, the series is saved, and a new level of trust in Klay is born.
He owns the single game record with fourteen made threes and has seasons over three hundred makes, all while sharing touches with Steph and others. His career total is above two thousand seven hundred makes at just over forty percent, that blend of volume and accuracy that coaches dream about from their second option.
On social media he once wrote about passing Reggie Miller and said that being compared to Reggie “meant the world to me and inspired me to never stop shooting” before saluting Miller as “the greatest to ever shoot it” from his childhood view. You can hear the shooter to shooter respect in that message. Every fan who has watched Klay score thirty seven points in a quarter or drop threes without a single dribble knows he belongs in this tier.
2. Ray Allen three point discipline
Ray Allen’s career has a lot of pretty jumpers. One shot in Miami, though, changed legacies. Game 6 against San Antonio. The yellow rope ready for a Spurs trophy celebration. Chris Bosh grabs the rebound, kicks it to the corner, and Ray backpedals perfectly to his spot for a three that kept the series alive and, in many eyes, saved the Heat.
Before Steph broke it, Ray held the all time record with nearly three thousand made threes at exactly forty percent. He led the league in makes multiple times, carried heavy volume in Milwaukee and Seattle, then turned into the deadliest role shooter in Boston and Miami. His shot diet was a mix of movement threes, pull ups, and clutch corner looks, and he almost never lost discipline with his form or shot selection.
Ray once said, “I dream about winning a championship, where everybody is hooting and hollering for you. The whole world is drawn to the Finals.” You feel that obsession in his stories about pre game routines, about running to the corner over and over, about practicing that exact backpedal three that later turned into his signature moment. When people teach shooting now, they still pull up clips of his footwork.
1. Stephen Curry three point gravity
The top spot here is not complicated. Stephen Curry changed the geometry of the sport. The defining single shot could be any number of pull ups from thirty feet, but I keep going back to that simple catch and shoot where he became the first player to hit four thousand career threes. Same form. Same calm follow through. Entire different universe of expectations.
Curry sits alone with more than four thousand career makes, far ahead of the pack, and he does it with a percentage north of forty percent on the highest difficulty mix we have ever seen. Records for single season makes, playoff makes, and seasons leading the league are stacked behind his name. In some seasons he has averaged more than five made threes per game while taking many of them off the dribble, off movement, and from absurd depth.
He once admitted, “I try to make it look easy, but the behind the scenes stuff is the challenge.” That is the whole story. Kids see the deep pull ups. Teammates see the hours of footwork and balance work and conditioning that let him shoot like that in the fourth quarter. When he crosses half court now, every defender leans toward him, and every teammate knows the gravity he creates will free someone. That is what separates the very best NBA three point shooters from great ones. Curry made defenses change their rules.
What Comes Next
The wild thing is that this list is not locked forever. Players like Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, and others are already stacking seasons with deep, off the dribble volume that would have looked reckless ten years ago. Someone reading this in a decade might laugh at where we slotted a few names.
At the same time, the bar to even get in this conversation keeps rising. You cannot just hit open catch and shoot looks now. To join the best NBA three point shooters group, you have to bend defensive coverage by yourself. You have to make teams trap you thirty feet from the rim and still live above thirty eight percent.
So the real question hanging over the league is simple.
Who is the next player who will make Steph’s numbers feel reachable instead of mythic?
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