Basketball has changed dramatically over the years, but one skill has always been able to change a game: shooting. Today, the three pointer dominates the NBA, and players are attempting shots that would have gotten them immediately benched 30 years ago. That makes comparing shooters from different eras difficult.
This list isn’t simply about who has made the most three pointers. If that were the case, we could just look at the all time leaderboard and call it a day. I’m looking at efficiency, volume, range, difficulty, catch and shoot ability, movement shooting, clutch performances and how much respect a player’s shot demanded from a defense.
With that said, here are my top five greatest shooters in NBA history.
#5 Larry Bird
Larry Bird played in an era when the three point shot was nowhere near as important as it is today, so looking only at his career three point totals doesn’t properly explain how great of a shooter he was.
Bird could score from almost anywhere. His midrange game was elite, he was deadly from the free throw line and when the NBA began embracing the three pointer, Bird quickly showed that he could dominate from there too. He led the NBA in free throw percentage four times and finished his career shooting 88.6 percent from the line.
Then there were the Three Point Contests. Bird won the first three Three Point Contests in NBA history, taking the crown in 1986, 1987 and 1988. The confidence surrounding those performances became almost as legendary as the shooting itself. Bird wasn’t simply making shots. He expected to make them.
His 1988 victory might be the perfect representation of Larry Bird. He competed while still wearing his warmup jacket and walked away with his third consecutive title. Bird also had a habit of making shots when everyone in the building knew he wanted the basketball. Whether it was a midrange jumper, a three or a difficult shot late in a game, his combination of touch, confidence and clutch shot making made him one of the most feared shooters of his generation.
Modern three point statistics don’t do Larry Bird justice. Put his shooting ability into today’s NBA, where players are encouraged to take eight, ten or even twelve threes in a game, and it is fascinating to imagine what his numbers could have looked like.
That’s enough for Larry Legend to earn No. 5 on my list.
#4 Reggie Miller
Before Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were running around screens and terrorizing defenses from behind the arc, Reggie Miller was showing just how dangerous an elite three point shooter could be.
Miller finished his career with 2,560 made three pointers, which was the NBA record when he retired. Even more impressive is that he shot 39.5 percent from three while playing most of his career in an era where three point attempts were dramatically lower than they are today.
Reggie wasn’t standing in the corner waiting for an open shot either. His constant movement made him exhausting to defend. He would sprint around screens, relocate without the basketball and somehow find enough space to get his shot off. Defenders could lose him for a second and suddenly Indiana had three more points.
Then there was the clutch factor. Few shooters in NBA history seemed to enjoy hostile environments more than Reggie Miller. Madison Square Garden became the setting for some of his most famous performances, and his rivalry with the New York Knicks helped build his reputation as one of basketball’s ultimate big moment shooters.
The most famous example came during the 1995 playoffs when Miller scored eight points in nine seconds against the Knicks, turning what appeared to be a New York victory into one of the most unbelievable endings in NBA playoff history.
Reggie helped lay the foundation for the movement shooting that eventually became such an important part of modern basketball. His combination of efficiency, longevity, off ball movement and clutch shooting earns him No. 4.
#3 Ray Allen
If you wanted someone to demonstrate what a perfect jump shot looked like, Ray Allen would be a pretty good place to start.
Allen’s release was smooth, quick and incredibly repeatable. But reducing him to a catch and shoot specialist would be unfair. During his prime, especially in Milwaukee and Seattle, Ray was a complete offensive player who could create his own shot, attack the basket and score from multiple levels.
Over an 18 season career, Allen made 2,973 three pointers while shooting exactly 40 percent from behind the arc. He retired as the NBA’s all time leader in made threes, a record that stood until Stephen Curry eventually passed him.
Allen also won the 2001 Three Point Contest, but his greatest shooting moment came when the stakes were infinitely higher.
Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals.
With Miami’s season hanging by a thread, Chris Bosh grabbed an offensive rebound and found Allen retreating toward the corner. Ray stepped behind the three point line and buried the greatest shot in NBA history, tying the game with 5.2 seconds remaining. Miami eventually won the game in overtime and then won Game 7 to capture the championship.
One shot doesn’t make someone the third greatest shooter ever, but when that shot is added to nearly 3,000 career threes, 40 percent career accuracy and almost two decades of elite shooting, the résumé becomes difficult to argue against.
Ray Allen wasn’t just one of the greatest shooters ever. He also made one of the greatest shots ever.
Ray Allen comes in at No. 3.
#2 Klay Thompson
There may never have been a better pure catch and shoot player than Klay Thompson.
Klay’s shooting motion was almost mechanical. Catch, rise, release. There was very little wasted movement, and because he didn’t need the basketball in his hands for long, he was the perfect player to place alongside Stephen Curry.
Through the 2025 to 2026 season, Thompson has made 2,899 career three pointers while shooting 40.9 percent from three. Maintaining better than 40 percent accuracy at that kind of volume is ridiculous by itself.
But Klay’s case isn’t built only on career totals. It’s what happened when he got hot.
Against Sacramento in 2015, Thompson produced one of the craziest quarters basketball has ever seen. He scored an NBA record 37 points in the third quarter, shooting 13 for 13 from the field and 9 for 9 from three.
Then in 2016, with Golden State facing elimination against Oklahoma City in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, Thompson made 11 three pointers and scored 41 points. Golden State completed the comeback, won the series and Klay’s performance became one of the defining games of the Warriors dynasty.
He later set what was then an NBA record by making 14 three pointers in a single game against Chicago in 2018.
And then there is perhaps the funniest Klay Thompson stat of them all. He once scored 60 points while taking only 11 dribbles.
That perfectly explains what made him different. Klay didn’t need to dominate the basketball to dominate a game. He could destroy a defense simply by moving without the ball, catching it and immediately letting it fly.
Four championships, countless huge playoff shots and one of the fastest releases the game has ever seen make Klay Thompson my No. 2 greatest shooter in NBA history.
Unfortunately for Klay, his longtime teammate happens to exist.
#1 Stephen Curry
Who else could it possibly be?
Stephen Curry isn’t just the greatest shooter in NBA history. He changed what basketball players believed was an acceptable shot.
Before Curry, pulling up several feet behind the three point line early in the shot clock could get a player benched. After Curry, defenses began picking players up near half court because everyone had seen what happened if Steph was given even a little space.
Curry has made 4,248 career three pointers while shooting 42.2 percent from behind the arc through the 2025 to 2026 season. He is already the NBA’s all time leader in made threes by a massive margin, and the combination of his volume and efficiency is unlike anything basketball had previously seen.
But even those numbers don’t fully explain Steph. It’s the difficulty of the shots.
Curry can shoot off the catch, off the dribble, coming around screens, stepping backward, moving sideways or pulling up from distances that once seemed ridiculous. His range stretches defenses farther away from the basket than almost any player before him.
His 2015 to 2016 MVP season completely changed the conversation around three point shooting. Curry made 402 three pointers, becoming the first player in NBA history to make 400 in a season, while shooting better than 45 percent from three. He won his second consecutive MVP and became the first unanimous MVP in league history.
And then there’s the effect he had on everyone else. Kids started practicing deeper threes. NBA teams began prioritizing spacing and shooting more than ever. Big men had to learn how to defend farther away from the basket. Entire offensive systems changed because Curry and the Warriors showed how devastating elite three point shooting could become.
Ray Allen helped perfect the three point shot. Reggie Miller showed how movement could create shooting opportunities. Larry Bird showed that elite shooters could own the biggest moments. Klay Thompson became perhaps the ultimate catch and shoot weapon.
Stephen Curry took pieces of all of it and pushed shooting somewhere basketball had never seen before.
There are plenty of debates when discussing the greatest players in NBA history.
This isn’t one of them.
Stephen Curry is the greatest shooter basketball has ever seen.
Five legendary shooters from different generations, each of whom helped shape how shooting is viewed in the NBA. Bird and Miller were doing it before the three pointer took over basketball, Allen helped push the shot into a new era, and Klay and Steph became the greatest shooting backcourt the sport has ever seen.
And at the top stands Curry, the player who didn’t simply master the three point shot. He changed the geometry of basketball because of it.
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