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The NBA is a constantly evolving league. Every year, teams introduce new strategies to cope with unstoppable scorers. When Stephen Curry took over the NBA with his freakish shooting, teams responded by drawing more contact with him on non-possession movement. Defenders would push, shove and use their sizes to block his movement, even if it included the possibility of giving away a foul.
In nature, when a prey evolves to sneak away from predators, predators evolve to ensure the kill. Once rival NBA coaches became more physical with Curry, he put on muscle, improved his shot release and began shooting off quick switches. He even used the extra contact to his own advantage, drawing in fouls for easy free throws or and-1 plays.
In the 2011-12 NBA season, Ryan Anderson led the league in the most three-pointers made category by registering 166. In comparison, Davis Bertans had 169 three-pointers in 2020-21, but was only ranked 26th on the list of leading arc scorers. Curry, as the leader of the previous season, recorded 337. In just a decade, the 3PM stat has doubled.
While we're at it, let's also take a look at the mid-range shooting stats from 2008-09. Dirk Nowitzki sat at the top of the list with a whopping 453 FGM from mid-range. This leading number, in the previous NBA season, had dropped by more than 250 mid-range FGM.
That is only natural, though. As the league evolves, players also adopt new ways to up their games. The best mid-range shooters in the league are still some of the most prolific scorers, often producing match-winning performances. On that note, here's a look at the top five mid-range scorers in the 2020-21 NBA season:
#5 Nikola Vucevic (332 points)
The Chicago Bulls brought Nikola Vucevic this year from the Orlando Magic. He teamed up with Zach LaVine to become Chicago's leading offensive duo. Now, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso have also joined the squad to ease the defensive and playmaking burdens off the LaVine-Vucevic combo.
In Vucevic, the Bulls have one of the best mid-range shooters in the NBA. He can rain down threes if given the smallest of spaces. As a player under the paint, he likes to draw contact and shoot hooks, bank shots, tip-ins and dunks.
But from mid-range he exclusively relies on high-release hooks and quick jump shots. That's a technique that has allowed him to score 166 field goals. He did that with 372 attempts, maintaining a 46.4 field-goal percentage from outside the paint but inside the arc.
#4 Devin Booker (336 points)
Devin Booker put on some of the most memorable performances in the 2021 NBA playoffs. After Chris Paul's injury, he single-handedly tested the LA Lakers' defense. He averaged 29.66 points in the 1st-round series of the playoffs, producing his best performance in the sixth game, where he scored 47 points and snatched 11 rebounds.
By the end of the season, Booker averaged 48.6% FG from 346 attempts. He also had two more field goals made than Vuvecic from mid-range. Stephen A., after witnessing Booker's NBA postseason performance, couldn't help but compare him with Kobe Bryant, saying:
"Stephen A.: Devin Booker is the next Kobe Bryant."
Also Read: Who is Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa Bryant?
#3 Brandon Ingram (338 points)
Brandon Ingram, a former LA Lakers player, now plays for the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA. Ingram is not among the top 15 scorers in the current NBA. He is not by any means a player around whom a franchise team can be built. However, as a secondary scorer, he is an ice-cold assassin.
Ingram can score from anywhere on the court. His 3-point shooting is reliable with decent attempts. He scored 143 times from beyond the arc in the 2020-21 season. He is capable of driving to the bucket, dunking the ball and perform tip-ins too. But his speciality lies in his mid-range scoring. He ranked third on the list of NBA players with the most points scored from mid-range last season.
The previous season, he attempted 356 shots from mid-range and sunk 169 of them, while registering a field goal percentage of 47.5.
#2 Julius Randle (342 points)
Julis Randle is a phenomenal scorer on the court, continuously reading and breaching the defenses of his rivals with efficient scoring. He has evolved to be one of the best mid-range shooters in the league. Randle's stats in the 2020-21 NBA place him above Booker and Ingram.
Randle is the 2020-21 NBA's most improved player of the year. He averaged 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and six assists to win the title. He plays for the New York Knicks in the NBA.
He had the most attempts and the lowest FG% from the mid-range on this list. At the same time, he tallied the second-highest conversions. Julius Randle added 171 mid-range field goals to his all-time stats in the 2020-21 NBA season.
#1 Chris Paul (394 points)
Point God is ranked number one on our list. During his long prolific career, Chris Paul has emerged as a household name, cementing his place as one of the greats of our generation.
He has performed exceptionally well season after season, showing the same hunger; that was the case in his first-ever NBA Finals too. Paul averaged an impressive 21.8 points and 8.2 assists per game.
Even amongst the best mid-range shooters, CP3 sits far above everyone else. He registered 394 points from mid-range in 2020-21, an incredible 52 points more than the one in second spot on our list.
Chris Paul attempted 382 mid-range shots from the region between the paint and the arc, converting 197 of them for a 51.6 FG%. Point God landed every second shot from mid-range in the previous NBA season. His best asset to pull off these numbers is his signature CP3 fade-away shot, which can wreak havoc.
