Thunder could be NBA’s worst on 3-point tries in six seasons
The Thunder is the NBA’s worst 3point shooting team, with a percentage of .318. And this Thunder team is the worst 3-point shooting team in OKC history. Which is saying something.
This Thunder team has a few success stories. Mike Muscala made 42.9% on 3pointers, before his season ended. Isaiah Roby has made an encouraging 41.5%. Czech rookie Vit Krejci, in 21 games, has made 41.2%. Rookie Tre Mann has made 36.1%.
But Luguentz Dort has made just 33.2%, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just 30%, Darius Bazley just 29.6%, Ty Jerome just 29%, Theo Maledon just 26.8%, Aleksej Pokusevski just 26.4% and rookie Josh Giddey just 26.3%.
The Thunder’s status as a poor 3point shooting team seems eternal. But it is not. There was a time when OKC actually could make a shot.
Here are the 14 Thunder teams, ranked by ability to score from deep:
1. 2012-13: The Thunder’s best team, its only 60-win season, also was its best collection of shooters. OKC shot .377 on 3-pointers, third in the league. Supersub Kevin Martin shot .426. Thabo Sefolosha had his best season, making 41.% and took 3.2 deep shots a game. Kevin Durant made 41.6%. Even Russell Westbrook shot an acceptable (for him) 32.3%.
2. 2013-14: Another great Thunder team, and good shooters — .361 from deep, 14th in the NBA, one of only three OKC teams to finish in the upper half of the league. Caron Butler was a late-season addition and made 44.1% on 3pointers (anyone remember that?). Durant shot .391, Derek Fisher .384 and Serge Ibaka .383.
3. 2011-12: The NBA finalists shot .358
from deep, 11th in the league. Thabo made 43.7% from deep, on limited attempts (man, Sefolosha was a good player!). James Harden made 39% and Durant 38.7%. How times have changed. That team took 20 3-pointers a game. The current Thunder takes 37.5 per game.
4. 2019-20: The Chris Paul team made 35.5% from deep, solid but still only 17th in the NBA. Danilo Gallinari made 40.5%, Dennis Schröder a stunning 38.5% and CP3 36.5%. Even off the bench, Muscala made 37.8% and Abdel Nader 37.5%.
5. 2017-18: The Carmelo Anthony team made 35.4%, 24th in the NBA. Paul George made 40.1% (what a player PG-13 was and I assume still is, when healthy). Off the bench, Patrick Patterson shot .386 and Alex Abrines .380. Carmelo made 35.7% on high volume. And of course, by this time, Westbrook was high volume and sub-.300 — .298.
6. 2015-16: The star-crossed final Durant team shot .349, 17th in the NBA. Durant and Anthony Morrow each shot .387. Then it dipped quickly. Dion Waiters made 35.8 percent, followed by Ibaka at .326. Westbrook was at .296.
7. 2018-19: The final George (and Westbrook) team made 34.8%, 22nd in the league. Jerami Grant was a breakout 39.2% deep shooter. PG shot .386. Terrance Ferguson even made 36.6%. But Schröder was at .341, Markieff Morris at .339, Patterson at .336, Abrines at .323, Nader at .320 and Westbrook .290.
8. 2010-11: The first Western Conference finalist team was 19th in the NBA, at .347. Daequan Cook (who was a little ahead of his time) made 42.2%. Eric Maynor shot .385. But Durant (.350) and Harden (.349) were below what became their standard, though that was countered by Westbrook making .330. Green (.304) and Sefolosha (.275) were off, too.
9. 2008-09: The initial Thunder team made 34.6%, good for just 28th in the NBA in those days of far fewer shots. But second-year pros Durant (.422) and Green (.389) shot fantastically. But get this. Only eight Thunders took more than four 3-point shots the entire season. Of that group, Westbrook ranked fifth on the team, at .271. Man, the game has changed.
10. 2009-10: The Thunder’s first playoff team averaged just 15 3-point shots per game. Crazy. OKC made 34%, 25th in the league. Harden made 37.5%, as a rookie, and Durant 36.5. Maynor was solid, too, at 36.2. Everyone else, not so much. Green 33.3, Thabo 31.3, Westbrook 22.1.
11. 2014-15: The injury-marred season, in which tons of people played, but Durant was limited to 27 games. The Thunder shot .339, 23rd in the league. Morrow was great off the bench, with a percentage of .434. Durant made 40.3%, Ibaka 37.6 and even Kyle Singler 37%. But Waiters took 160 deep balls and shot .319. Westbrook took 288 and shot .299. Reggie Jackson, in his angry season, took 158 and shot .278.
12. 2020-21: The Thunder was 29th in the league, at .339. Six years earlier, OKC shot .339 and was 23rd. Teams are getting better. Kenrich Williams (.444), Jerome (.423) and Gilgeous-Alexander (.418) were great. Muscala (.370), Al Horford (.368) and even Dort (.343) were solid. But the Thunder had four players take at least 100 3-pointers and make less than 31 percent — Justin Jackson (.306), Roby (.294), Bazley (.290) and Pokusevski (.280).
13. 2016-17: The Westbrook-MVP year was a 3-point wasteland. The Thunder ranked last in the NBA, at .327. Westbrook (.343) actually outshot the team average by a healthy margin. Abrines (.381) and Grant (.377) were good. Doug McDermott (.362) and Victor Oladipo (.361) helped the percentage. But Domantas Sabonis (.321), Cameron Payne (.308) and Andre Roberson (.245) dragged down the production. Even Morrow was off, making just 29.4%.
14. 2021-22: The Thunder is shooting an abysmal .318. That’s eight percentage points from Detroit, which is next to last. The Thunder is on pace to be the NBA’s worst shooting team since the 2015-16 Lakers, who made 31.7% and had only five players above 30%.