We talk a lot about how basketball, and the NBA in particular, has drifted further and further away from the basket to the perimeter. Sometimes, it's probably a little over-stated; games are still often won in the trenches, especially in the postseason.
But, graphs like the one below illustrate not only how much more the 3-point line is utilized today than ever before, but also how insanely accurate the best sharp shooters are.
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Damian Lillard have played seven, five, and four seasons in the NBA so far, respectively. At the rate they're going, they're easily going to surpass the greatest 3-point shooters of the past.
This graph was made by Redditor siorge, and it's really something to be appreciated:
Curry has already made the 19th most 3-pointers in a career at 1,593, putting him in a class of his own. Still, both Thompson and Lillard are on a pace to make more treys than the rest of the top-50 list if they keep up with their current rates.
The one outlier you see streaking above the others in gray is Ray Allen, who holds the all-time record for 3-pointers made with 2,973.
When members of the media and fans say that the Warriors are changing the way the game is played, this is the kind of thing they're talking about. By the time they hang up their sneakers, there's a good chance that Golden State will have the two most prolific 3-point shooters in the history of the NBA.
This is probably just the beginning. Expect this same kind of trend to occur with the next crop of 3-point specialists.
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