Three-Pointers Accounting for the Majority of Points
In the final game of the 2020-2021 NBA regular season for the Golden State Warriors,
NBA scoring title winner Stephen Curry
hit nine three-pointers on 22 attempts (tied for fourth-most all-time in a single game) and
scored 46 points. For the season, Curry scored 2015 points and 1011 of those points (50.2%) came via his league-leading 337 three-pointers
(fourth-most all-time). Curry was one of
over 80 NBA players during the 2020-2021 season who scored
at least 100 points and had the majority of their points come from three-pointers. Those players include his brother Seth (711 points, 126 three-pointers),
his brother-in-law Damion Lee (373 points, 77 three-pointers), and his brother's brother-in-law Austin Rivers
(285 points, 55 three-pointers).
The player who had the highest percentage of their points come from three-pointers was
Philadelphia 76ers guard Danny Green. 80.3% of his 654 points came
via his 175 three-pointers. Who came in second? 79.6% of Miami Heat guard
Duncan Robinson's 942 points came via his 250 three-pointers. By comparison, 0.36% of San Antonio Spurs Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and David Robinson combined 47,284 career points came from their combined 55 three-pointers. Check out this entertaining SB Nation article about Duncan Robinson's propensity for shooting three-pointers.
The three-point line was adopted by the NBA prior to the '79-'80 season. For the first nine seasons after the implementation, three-pointers did
not account for the majority of any NBA player's points. The first NBA player to have the majority of his points come from three-pointers was New York Knicks guard Trent Tucker. Tucker scored 687 points during the '88-'89 season and 354 points (51.5%) came via his 118 three-pointers. 100% of Mike Dunleavy's points that season came from three-pointers (3 total points, 1 three-pointer) but I am not counting him because of the small number of points.
Over the next five NBA seasons, there were six more instances where the majority of an NBA player's points came from three-pointers:
After the '93-'94 season, the three-point line was moved closer to the basket, and significantly more three-pointers were attempted.
Seven players who scored at least 100 points the following season
had over 50% of their points come from three-pointers:
- John Starks (1223 points, 217 three-pointers)
- Chuck Person (872 points, 172 three-pointers)
- Vernon Maxwell (854 points, 143 three-pointers)
- Kenny Smith (842 points, 142 three-pointers)
- Brad Lohaus (267 points, 63 three-pointers)
- Marlon Wiley (137 points, 30 three-pointers)
- Randy Woods (124 points, 22 three-pointers)
Apparently, Starks was not discouraged by his performance in his final game the previous season.
The three-point line was moved back to its original distance prior to the '97-'98 season. This caused a
temporary dip in three-point attempts, yet three-point attempts continued to
rise after a few seasons.
After the '97-'98 season, Starks was traded to the Warriors for a
player who arrived late to a home game in San Jose because of traffic.
46.6% of Phoenix Suns star Dan Majerle's points during the '94-'95 season came from three-pointers (1281 points, 199 three-pointers). For each
of his next seven seasons, the majority of the points for "Thunder Dan" came
from three-pointers. In his final season, 79% of his 300 points came via his 79 three-pointers. That was the
highest such percentage in the NBA that season. Jim Les
and Dan Majerle were the original Duncan Robinsons!