The three-pointer increases in influence and importance to NBA basketball with each passing year. Last season, teams took an average of 37.8 three-point attempts per 100 possessions, a new league record, and made those shots at a 36 percent clip. You don’t need to be a great three-point shooting team to win the championship — the Oklahoma City Thunder proved that last year — but a failure to get enough shooting will put a team dead on arrival.
The top players in the world don’t necessarily need to be great three-point shooters, but the best way to build around a superstar is to surround them with shooting and let them go to work in an ocean of space. Going five-out — five shooting threats on the floor at the same time — is all the rage these days. It’s becoming hard to build a solid lineup with more than one shaky shooter on the floor at a time.
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With training camp about a month away for the 2025-26 NBA season, let’s look at the league’s best three-point shooters right now. This list doesn’t include players expected to be injured for all of the upcoming season, like Tyrese Haliburton, Kyrie Irving, and Damian Lillard. Here’s how we’d rank the league’s deadliest shooters for the new season.
9. Luke Kennard, G, Atlanta Hawks
Kennard has carved out a nice career as a shooting specialist, and finally played something to a full season in Memphis last year (65 games) after enduring years of injuries. Now moving on to the Atlanta Hawks on a one-year deal, the 29-year-old is in prime position to feast off looks created by Trae Young and also run a little bit of offense in his hands with the second unit. Over his last 300 games, Kennard has made 45.4 percent from three-point range. He was at 46.9 percent on catch-and-shoot attempts last year with Memphis. Playing on a 1-year, $11 million deal with the Hawks this season, Kennard has every incentive to have a big season and cash in again next year.
8. AJ Green, G, Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks picked up Green as an undrafted free agent in 2022 after a prolific mid-major college career at Northern Iowa, and rewarded their faith by developing into a legit rotation piece and one of the league’s best shooters. If Green is on the floor, he’s getting up threes: 85.6 percent of his field goal attempts came from beyond the arc last year, and he knocked those shots down at a 42.7 percent clip. Green ripped 44.5 percent of his spot-up threes, and 36 percent of his pull-ups. With Damian Lillard out of Milwaukee, Green should step into a bigger role for a Bucks backcourt that is begging for someone to break out.
7. Klay Thompson, G, Dallas Mavericks
Thompson never shot below 40 percent from three on one of the league’s highest-volume shot diets for his first eight years in the league before the injury that changed his career. Since returning from a torn Achilles and torn ACL that cost him two seasons, Thompson has only been above 40 percent from three once, but he remains one of the league’s most automatic threats on an open spot-up. In his first year in Dallas, Klay canned 42.4 percent of his spot-up threes. On “wide open” threes with a defender not within six feet of him, Thompson made 47 percent of his triples on 2.5 attempts per game. Klay has fallen off as a pull-up shooter (only 28 percent last year), but without a dribble, he remains as deadly as anyone. There’s a case that this is something of a career achievement award, but with Cooper Flagg around diming him up this year, I’d expect another very strong shooting season from Klay.
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6. Desmond Bane, G, Orlando Magic
No team in the NBA needed an infusion of shooting as badly as the Orlando Magic entering the offseason. Desmond Bane can fix a lot of their problems all by himself. Orlando traded four first-round picks to Memphis for Bane, which seems like a lot at first blush for a player who has never been an All-Star. Bane fills the exact type of player the Magic needed, though: someone who can stroke three-pointers with volume and run some offense with the ball in his hands without compromising an elite defense. Bane is a career 41 percent three-point shooter, which ranks No. 9 among active players. He made 42 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes last year, and hit nearly 38 percent of his spot-ups. The fit in Orlando is absolutely perfect. Bane should have a monster year playing off Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner for a Magic team that is a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference.
5. Sam Hauser, F, Boston Celtics
Hauser proved his elite shooting stroke could scale up in a real rotation role over the last two years. The 6’8 forward made 42 percent of his threes on 864 attempts over the last two seasons, turning into a valuable bench piece for the Celtics. Hauser’s shooting will always be his calling card, but the reason he earned more minutes is because he showed he could stay on the floor defensively. With Jayson Tatum out for the year in Boston for the 2025-26 season, Hauser will step into an even bigger role and try to prove he can be a valuable piece for the next great Celtics team when Tatum returns.
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4. Malik Beasley, free agent
Signing Malik Beasley changed everything for the Detroit Pistons last season. The Pistons’ jump from 14 wins to 44 wins only happened after the team finally improved its spacing and shooting around Cade Cunningham, and Beasley was the man most responsible for it. Beasley finished No. 2 in the league with 319 made three-pointers, and he played nearly 600 fewer minutes than Anthony Edwards, the only player to top him in 3PM by one lousy make. The veteran canned 41.6 percent of his threes by taking more than 16 threes per 100 possessions. Detroit was reportedly ready to sign him to a $42 million deal before it was pulled amid a federal gambling investigation. Beasley is no longer the target of the investigation, but he is still one of the subjects, putting his availability this season at risk. Still, if Beasley can get back onto the court this year, there’s no doubt he’s one of the game’s deadliest shooters.
3. Zach LaVine, G, Sacramento Kings
Zach LaVine just had one of the best non-Splash Brothers shooting seasons in NBA history, and it flew entirely under the radar. LaVine drained 44.6 percent of his threes last year between stops in Chicago and Sacramento, roaring back to form after injuries limited to only 25 games the previous year. LaVine is equally deadly on pull-ups and typically more efficient catch-and-shoot attempts: he made 43.8 percent of his off-the-dribble threes last season on 320 attempts, and hit 44.7 percent of his spot-ups on 206 attempts. His quick trigger allowed him to make 43 percent of his tightly guarded threes with defenders within four feet of him. LaVine’s contract is so big that the Bulls couldn’t give him away before the Kings finally took the bait, but the 30-year-old could be an unrestricted free agent after this season if he opts out of the last year of his deal. It’s a shame LaVine has spent his entire NBA career in terrible situations between Minnesota, Chicago, and now Sacramento. Here’s hoping he finds a good organization where he can play off a true superstar before his prime is over.
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2. Kevin Durant, F, Houston Rockets
Kevin Durant doesn’t miss. On the brink of his 37th birthday, KD maintained his status as the game’s greatest all-around shooter last year. Durant ripped 43 percent of his threes for a hopeless Phoenix Suns team, and he’s about to step into a much better situation this season after being traded to the Houston Rockets. With a 7’5 wingspan, KD’s shot is virtually unblockable. He made 42.3 percent of his threes on “tightly guarded” attempts last year with a defender within four feet of him. Just about the only thing holding Durant back is his lack of volume: he only took six threes per game a year ago, which ranked No. 41 in the league. The future Hall of Famer prefers to work from mid-range, where he made 53.7 percent of his looks, which ranked in the 96th percentile last season. It’s hard to believe Durant only made 28.8 percent of his threes as a rookie for the Seattle Supersonics way back in 2007-20078 but it’s a testament to just how much he’s grown as a player over the years. Finally back in a great team situation in Houston, Durant should be poised for another great season of lighting the nets on fire with every flick of his wrist.
1. Steph Curry, G, Golden State Warriors
The greatest shooter of all-time remains the best shooter in the world even as he readies to turn 38 years old in March. Curry led the league in three-point attempts last season at 11.2 per game, and still knocked them down at a 39.7 percent clip. Curry is the ultimate evidence that a shooter needs to be judged not just on accuracy, but volume, shot-difficulty, and the fear they strike in opposing defenses. The Warriors superstar can pull-up any time he crosses halfcourt, and his gravity can be just as devastating as his shot-making. His incredible endurance allows him to dash around screens, where the threat of his shooting occupies a maximum amount of defensive attention and opens up space for his teammates. With Jimmy Butler now providing more driving and interior scoring, Curry will be more free to roam this upcoming season, which is terrible news for Warriors opponents. Curry changed the NBA forever with his shooting, making him one of the greatest and most influential players of all-time. Golden State might be fighting an uphill battle in the West this season, but Curry’s greatness is still going strong.
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Honorable mentions:
Sam Merrill, G, Cleveland Cavaliers
Cam Johnson, F, Denver Nuggets
Grayson Allen, G, Phoenix Suns
Payton Pritchard, G, Boston Celtics
Kon Knueppel, G, Charlotte Hornets
Karl-Anthony Towns, C, New York Knicks
Norman Powell, G, Miami Heat
Anthony Edwards, G, Minnesota Timberwolves