Ranking Michael Jordan's 3 best shooting seasons of his NBA career based on three-point shooting
Michael Jordan is not only considered by many as the greatest NBA player ever, but he is also universally recognized as the best scorer ever seen in the NBA. Of course, the group of those who believe Kevin Durant is a better scorer is growing, but Michael Jordan's 10 NBA scoring titles are a difficult argument to go against.
Talking about Michael Jordan's offensive game, driving towards the basket and the mid-range game were really the two most dominant areas of his offensive skills. Jordan was arguably the most dominant scorer from mid-range ever seen in the NBA, while his unique athletic abilities made him borderline unstoppable at the rim, although the 'Bad Boy' Detroit Pistons found somewhat of a recipe.
However, in the era in which Michael Jordan played, it was not common to see teams launching several three-point shots per game. If we take Michael Jordan's best season in terms of points per game (1986-87, 37.1 points per game), the player who attempted the most three-pointers in the NBA was Larry Bird, at 194.
Michael Jordan wasn't known as a great three-point shooter, simply because he didn't attempt enough shots. Apart from some rare games, like Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals (when he made six threes in the first half), he really did not view the three-point shot as an essential tool.
Michael Jordan's best NBA seasons from the three-point line
Throughout his entire NBA career, Michael Jordan attempted 1,778 threes, making 32.7% of those (581). To give you a glimpse of how the game has changed, the NBA's most recent scoring leader, Stephen Curry, has attempted 1,660 threes in the last three years (which include the five games he played in the 2019-20 NBA season) and made 703.
Of course, Curry has a green light to shoot whenever he wants and he's the best at it, but if we take other offensive players, we will see similar numbers. Kevin Durant, for example, has made 1,655 three-pointers in his career, and that's not the principal tool of his offensive game.
Still, this article will be about Michael Jordan's three-point shooting, and we will give you the three-best NBA shooting seasons of Jordan's career, based on his three-point shooting percentage.
Please note that the NBA shortened the three-point line from the 1994-95 season to the 1996-97 campaign. It went from 23 feet, nine inches, to 22 feet (the usual distance from the corners).
Without further ado, let us take a look.
#3 Michael Jordan's 1996-97 NBA season
In the final year of the NBA's experiment of a shorter three-point line, Michael Jordan won his ninth NBA scoring title, averaging 29.6 points per game and making 48.6% of his field goals.
Moreover, 'His Airness' made 37.4% of his three-point attempts in that season, which is the third-best of his illustrious NBA career. That year, Jordan attempted 297 threes and converted 111 shots from distance.
He averaged 3.6 attempts per game and made 1.4 per night. During the 1997 NBA Playoffs, on his way to his fifth title, Jordan made only 19% of his threes, but averaged 31.1 points per game.
#2 Michael Jordan's 1989-90 NBA season
Given the shortened line between 1994 and 1997, Michael Jordan's 1989-90 NBA season was arguably his best in terms of three-point shooting. That year, Jordan won the fourth scoring title of his NBA career and his fourth consecutive.
At the time, Jordan was still looking for his first NBA championship and had to deal with the notion that the NBA scoring title didn't translate to a championship. Still, it was a great offensive year for MJ, who averaged 33.6 points per game while posting a 52/37/84 shooting split.
Making 37.6% of his threes was impressive. He attempted 245 three-point shots and converted 92 in the regular season. He led the league in two-point field goals that year, attempted and converted, and finished 12th in making threes.
Also Read: Michael Jordan’s net worth, salary, endorsements and more
#1 Michael Jordan's 1995-96 NBA season
Again, the shortened three-point line helped Michael Jordan's three-point shooting from 1994 to 1997, even though his offensive game wasn't driven by the three-point shot at any point in his career, not even during the years of the shorter line.
However, he did take advantage of it, and he made 42.7% of his three-pointers during the 1995-95 NBA regular season. That was Jordan's best three-point shooting percentage of his entire NBA career if we take into consideration the years of the shortened line.
He attempted 260 three-point shots that year, the second-most of his NBA career, and made 111, which tied his career-best for a single NBA season.
Jordan averaged 30.4 points per game that year while leading the Chicago Bulls to the then greatest regular season in league history with their famous 72-10 record. He won his eighth scoring title that year and the first since his first retirement in 1993.
He led the league in field goals attempted and made that year, and finished tied for 10th place in three-point field goal percentage, too.
In the 1996 NBA Playoffs, Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to their fourth championship in franchise history and won his fourth NBA Finals MVP. Moreover, he made 40.3% of his three-pointers during that title run, which was the best percentage he put up in his postseason career.
During the 1996 NBA Playoffs, Michael Jordan attempted 62 three-pointers and made 25. He attempted 3.4 three-pointers per game in the 1996 postseason and averaged 1.4 three-pointers converted per game.
Apart from winning the 1996 NBA Finals MVP, his fourth, Michael Jordan also won the fourth NBA regular-season MVP of his NBA career, beating San Antonio Spurs' David Robinson.
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Rohit Mishra