The three-pointer was only introduced to NBA games in 1979-80, a concept borrowed from the ABA League (merged by the NBA in 1976). When the three-point line was just added to the game, the long-range shooting was not very popular with the players, and both the players and the coach adhered to the concept of "the closer to the basket, the higher the shooting rate", focusing on the basket and the middle distance.
As renowned NBA analyst Kirk Goldberg noted in his 2019 book Sprawlball: "By comparing the preliminary data for each game, we will find that three-point shooters have gone from a forgotten little role that averaged 2.4 points per game in 1979 to a superstar who averaged 31.5 points per game in 2017-18." ”
Over the past decade, along with Stephen Curry's success, the three-pointer offensive philosophy has exploded in the league. The team relies more on three-pointers to improve space on the court than ever before, and three-point shooters have become the favorite in the eyes of all general managers. And this is just one of the important milestones in the history of three-point shooting, throughout the history of three-point shooting, there are 5 milestones of similar significance, let's briefly review the 6 stages of the development of three-point shooting in NBA games.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > Brian Taylor hit 90 three-pointers in 1979-80</h1>
Brian Taylor is almost a forgotten name in NBA history, as most of his achievements have been concentrated in the ABA period, including ABA championships, steal kings, best defense, and so on. But there's one detail that has left Brian Taylor with his own name in NBA history — he was the league's first three-pointer since the NBA introduced the three-point line in 1979-80.
Taylor, who played for the San Diego Clippers at the time, hit 90 three-pointers in a single season, overpowering Hall of Famer Rick Barry's 73 three-pointers. But Taylor was on the verge of retirement, and he played only two seasons, dropping to 44 and 23 from three-point range. The Jazz's Darrell Graface improved Taylor's record slightly, hitting 91 long-range shots in 1983-84 and further increasing his shooting percentage to 92 in 1984-85.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > two, Danny Angie hit 148 three-pointers in 1987-88</h1>
By 1987-88, there was a huge leap in three-pointer season shooting, with an unprecedented three-player breaking the "100 three-point shooting mark in a single season", followed by Danny Angie of the Boston Celtics with 148 three-pointers, followed by Michael Adams from the Denver Nuggets and Dale Ellis from the Seattle Supersonics with 139 and 107 long-range shots, respectively.
However, none of these three players are known for their shooting percentages, and the three-point shooting rates of Angie, Adams and Ellis are not in the top five that season, but the number of shots outside the three-point line of the three is in the top three, of which Adams is the player who tried the most long-range shots that season.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" >-three, dan Marley was only eight three-pointers away from breaking the 200 mark in 1993-94</h1>
After the 1987-88 season, the record for players hitting three-pointers in a single season hovered between 160-170, until Dan Marley threw 192 three-pointers in a single season in the 1993-94 season, just eight short of breaking the 200 three-point mark. Many fans' perception of Marley stayed, and the Bulls general manager at the time, Jerry Klaus, admired Marley very much, and then Michael Jordan scored 41 points per game against the best second-team defender on the stage of the Finals, easily taking the championship.
However, Marley's ability is unquestionable, and in the 1993-94 season, he shot 38.2% from three-point range, ranking 20th in the league, with 503 shots, ranking first in the league. In second-place shooting was Vernon Maxwell's 403, but he hit just 120 three-pointers for the Houston Rockets, or just 29.8 percent. By contrast, Marley was the best three-point shooter of the era combining production and efficiency.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > fourth, Dennis Scott hit 267 three-pointers in 1995-96</h1>
The NBA shortened the three-point line distance in 1994-97, a change that led to a general explosion in player three-point production. Even Michael Jordan, the "god of basketball", who is not good at three-pointing, has shot a considerable three-point shooting rate in these three seasons. John Starks led the league with 217 three-pointers in 1994-95, while Reggie Miller dominated the three-point table with 229 three-pointers in 1996-97.
But the real star of the period was Dennis Scott, who played for the Orlando Magic, who hit 267 three-pointers in 1995-96, setting a new single-season three-point shooting record, followed by Dallas Mavericks George McLeod, who threw 257 three-pointers in a single season.
However, after the 1996-97 season, the three-point line returned to its original size, and the development of the league's three-point development changed again.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="21" >5, Ray Allen's all-time no-ball run, who threw 269 three-pointers in the 2005-06 season</h1>
After the three-point line was changed back to its original size, no one was able to reach Dennis Scott's height in a single-season shooting for a long time, until Ray Allen broke the 250-point mark on the 23-foot-9-inch three-point line (instead of the 22-foot three-point line) with his textbook shooting performance.
Ray Allen, who played for the Seattle SuperSonics in 2005-06, threw 269 three-pointers, nearly three times the number of shots made by three-pointer Brian Taylor in 1979-80, which seemed almost an insurmountable miracle at the time.
Gentleman Ray shot 41.2 percent from three-point range that season, and Goldesberg has an interesting description of Allen's historic season in his book: "Of Ray Allen's 269 three-pointers, 202 came from assists, accounting for 75.1 percent of the total, and only 67 were non-assisted three-pointers." Ray Allen used his tireless running to find those three-point shots and staged an artistic no-ball play.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="26" > Six, Stephen Curry broke the 400-point mark in a single season in 2015-16</h1>
Years later, Stephen Curry broke the single-season three-point shooting record held by Ray Allen. In the 2012-13 season and the 2014-15 season, he hit 272 and 286 three-pointers respectively, constantly impacting the three-point list. The biggest shock came in 2015-16, when Stephen Curry hit 402 three-pointers in his unanimous MVP season.
Curry broke the 400 three-point mark in a single season, but also set a record that was almost impossible to break (the first and so far the only player to throw 400 three-pointers in a single season). In addition, he also suddenly improved the record number of three-pointers hit in a single season by 116, which is the biggest improvement in the three-point record list, surpassing any of the previous ones, and Curry surpassed himself last season.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="31" > conclusion</h1>
At present, Curry in the 2015-16 season is probably the ceiling of the three-point shooting technology, and no one will be able to surpass or even approach the record of 402 three-pointers in a single season in a short period of time.
An interesting trend, though, is that since the start of the 1995-96 season, from Dennis Scott to Ray Allen to Stephen Curry, there has been a clear leap in the number of three-point shots almost every decade, and innovations in tactical ideas and three-pointer technology will help this skill to develop rapidly. So, we can look forward to the 2025-26 season, and we don't know if the next historic three-point shooter will be born at that time, breaking Curry's record in one fell swoop.