You have to be a decent shooter to be in the NBA nowadays. That’s an understatement. Gone are the days when excellent shooting was limited to three-point specialists. Shooting just doesn’t apply to the backcourt, but the emphasis on being able to consistently hit mid range shots and three pointers are becoming job requirements for most all frontcourt players.
Centers that earned their paycheck with their back to the basket and can’t shoot outside of five feet are being deprioritized. The Tyson Chandler and DeAndre Jordan-types are becoming the hired guns; players brought into for a specific type of offense or pick-and-roll.
Leaguewide Emphasis on Shooting
The emphasis on shooting over the last several years has permeated across the league so much so that the rare achievement of shooting at least 50% from the field, 40% from three and 90% from the free throw line – also known as the 50-40-90 — might not be so rare any longer.
As of this post, a 50-40-90 season has only been achieved 12 times by been only eight different players in the entire history of the league. This season, there’s three players that meet those numbers and another nine players flirting with the coveted 50-40-90 thresholds.
| Player | PPG | FG% | 3PT% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyrie Irving | 27.5 | 52.5% | 41.4% | 93.7% |
| Paul George | 24.4 | 50.8% | 47.8% | 90.5% |
| Khris Middleton | 20.8 | 51.6% | 45.0% | 91.6% |
| Stephen Curry | 29.6 | 48.7% | 42.9% | 92.9% |
| Kevin Durant | 29.5 | 52.9% | 44.9% | 87.2% |
| Nikola Jokic | 27.5 | 56.7% | 40.0% | 85.0% |
| Zach LaVine | 27.4 | 51.8% | 42.5% | 86.3% |
| Kawhi Leonard | 26.0 | 50.5% | 40.2% | 89.1% |
| Gordon Hayward | 22.9 | 49.9% | 42.6% | 86.2% |
| Tobias Harris | 20.3 | 51.5% | 43.8% | 87.5% |
| Harrison Barnes | 16.7 | 49.1% | 41.0% | 85.7% |
| Tyrese Haliburton | 12.0 | 49.5% | 45.5% | 86.7% |
What makes it more impressive is the majority of this list are among the league’s top 50 scorers so this isn’t a small sample size. However, the likelihood of more than one player is unlikely and i would easily wager on the NBA betting lines that it we’ll likely only have one player that meets the criteria.
Not who you think it will be
Of all the players in the above list, one of the most-unheralded is the favorite to accomplish the 50-40-90. In a sea of MVP candidates, we have our money on Khris Middleton. Middleton barely missed joining the list last season and adding his name to an impressive list that includes Larry Bird, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller and Dirk Nowitzki. And we mean barely. Middleton put up splits at 49.9% from the field, 41.8% from three and 90.8% from the free throw line; coming up 0.1% in FG%.
However if Curry and Durant can meet those percentages this year, it will be both players’ second time finishing the season with a 50-40-90 campaign.
It’s early and there’s a lot of games to be played, so we’re expecting percentages to drop slightly; just enough to make this list a lot shorter as the season progresses. If the list of players that have accomplished this feat and if other seasons are any indication, we’ll likely only have 1-2 players
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