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Chris Mullin Selects His Greatest Shooters In NBA History
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- Chris Mullin Selects His Greatest Shooters In NBA History
Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Hall of Famer Chris Mullin was one of the NBA's best three-point shooters in the 1990s, and content creator Brad Parker recently tasked him with creating his list of the five greatest shooters of all time. Mullin would name five, but then proceeded to give shoutouts to some other great marksmen as well.
"To me, [Larry] Bird I think is underrated," Mullin said. "He's close to 50-40-90. Obviously, Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson]. Ray Allen's up there, no question. Reggie Miller. I played with Reggie. But there's been guys like Mark Price, who's overlooked. John Stockton's efficiency, incredible. Jeff Hornacek was a great [shooter]."
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Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry is, of course, the most obvious pick, as he is widely regarded as the greatest shooter of all time. Curry has made an NBA-record 4,262 three-pointers in his career, and no one else is particularly close. The 38-year-old is also the only player ever to make more than 400 threes in a single season, having drilled 402 in 2015-16.
Despite the volume, Curry was ridiculously efficient at 45.4% from beyond the arc, which explains why he became the first-ever unanimous MVP in 2016. The 12-time All-Star has been pretty efficient throughout his career as well, at 42.2% from three.
For much of his career, Curry had Klay Thompson by his side on the Warriors. Thompson has shot 40.9% from three in his career and ranks fourth all-time with 2,911 makes. The Miami Heat veteran holds the record for most threes in a single game with 14. Curry set the record with 13 in 2016, only for Thompson to break it in 2018.
Now, Mullin played for the Warriors, was their general manager, and is now an analyst for NBC Sports Bay Area, but hardly anyone can accuse him of bias with these two selections. Thompson might not be a lock in the eyes of some like Curry, but he certainly isn't out of place by any means.
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Moving on to the rest of the names Mullin mentioned, Larry Bird tends to be somewhat of a controversial selection. Bird won three NBA three-point contests in a row from 1986 to 1988 and was arguably the greatest sniper of his era.
Bird didn't make or take too many threes (649/1727), though, and shot just 37.6% from beyond the arc for his career. You'd imagine that if he played in today's NBA, he'd have focused on that aspect of the game.
Someone who did focus a lot on the three-pointer was Ray Allen . Before Curry came along, Allen was the NBA's all-time leader with 2,973 made threes, and he's only dropped to third now. He shot an efficient 40.0% from beyond the arc for his career and was a feared sniper. Curry has called Allen the greatest shooter besides himself , which tells you all you need to know.
Allen initially became the NBA's all-time leader after passing Reggie Miller , who held the record with 2,560 made threes. Miller has slid down to seventh now thanks to the three-point revolution, but he belongs in these top 5 lists. He came close to shooting over 40.0% from three for his career, too, finishing at 39.5%.
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As for Mullin's "honorable mentions," both Mark Price and Jeff Hornacek won the three-point contest twice. They both shot over 40.0% from three for their careers too, with Price at 40.2% and Hornacek at 40.3%.
Last but not least, John Stockton never won the three-point contest, but he shot a respectable 38.4% from three over 19 seasons in the NBA. You wouldn't immediately think of Stockton as a great shooter, but he was pretty good.
