NBA sets 3-pointer record
MIAMI — Another year. Another record. The NBA’s 3-point craze is not slowing down.
For the sixth consecutive season, NBA teams have combined to set a league-wide 3-point record. Last season’s number was 23,748, and No. 23,749 of this season came on Friday night. The league is more than 8 percent ahead of last year’s pace, and 25,000 makes this season is very possible.
So clearly, the reliance on the 3-pointer is not going to lessen anytime soon.
“I think it’s a trend for a while — but at some point it has to peak,” said Cleveland forward Kevin Love, one of the many NBA big men who has no trouble making 3s, and that’s a big reason why the totals are soaring. “Every position, 1 through 5, is now shooting 3s. You see that as such a weapon. It makes the game fun, makes it interesting. There’s definitely a lot of spacing out there and it’s wild to see.”
Thing is, that peak isn’t visible.
Out of 30 teams, 19 are either on pace to set — or have already set — franchise records for made 3s this season, and a couple others are within reasonable striking distance.
There are shooters now all over the league. Only four seasons ago, the total of NBA players who made at least 100 3s was 57. This year, that total is going to be close to doubled. Across the NBA this season, 91 percent of players have attempted at least one 3-pointer and 81 percent of players have made at least one.
Rookies are making them; Utah’s Donovan Mitchell had 172 enter Friday and is closing in on the record for a first-year player, that being 185 by Portland’s Damian Lillard. Also making them are 7-footers; eight guys listed at 7-0 or taller will likely get to the 100 mark by the end of the season.
