Since the three-point line was introduced in the NBA, players have obviously looked to maximise their scoring potential by shooting from distance.
That has been encouraged further in recent years, as the likes of Steph Curry have shown you can build a lot of success from being an elite three-point shooter.
Here, we have looked into the top 15 three-point scorers in NBA history.
15. Paul Pierce
Pierce ended his career with a three-point percentage of .368, which is a very good number over the course of a 19-year career.
Pierce attempted 4.3 threes a game, and scored 1.6 per game, for a total of 2143 by the end of his career.
14. Kevin Durant
Durant is still climbing the list, about to enter his 18th season in the league, and he’ll do so on 2191 three-pointers.
He has a very good .390 average, and attempts five three-pointers a game, making two of them. The last couple of seasons have been some of his best in terms of making threes, as he knocked down 168 in 2023-24 and 160 in 2024-25, so it seems there’s a lot more to come.
13. Kyle Lowry
Lowry has had two seasons in his career in which he has made more than 200 three-pointers – 2015-16 and 2017-18.
Overall in his career, the point guard has made 2205 threes, and looks as if he will continue for at least one more season, so those numbers could rise.
12. Jamal Crawford
Though he did not start a lot of games after the middle of his career, Crawford remained an effective shooter off the bench.
From his ninth year onwards – in a 20-year career – Crawford started just 34 games, but made 1196 threes in those seasons.
Those were helpful additions from the bench to a career total of 2221.
11. Jason Terry
Over the course of a 19-year career, Terry attempted over 6000 threes, and made 2282 of them.
Similarly to Crawford, he was used as a shooter off the bench for periods of his career, and played the role effectively.
10. Vince Carter
Carter played one of the longest careers in NBA history, featuring in 22 separate seasons.
That gave him a lot of time to knock down threes, which he continued to do at the back end of his career when he could no longer physically do some of the things he had been able to earlier in his career.
By the end of his career, Carter had made 2290 three-pointers.
9. Paul George
George is about to enter his 16th season in the NBA, and he’s scored over 200 three-pointers in four of them so far, with his best season seeing him knock down 292, in 2018-19.
In 2023-24, George made 243 threes, before missing a lot of last season through injury, so in the coming season, there’s a good chance he’ll be adding to his career total of 2349.
8. Kyle Korver
Korver built a career largely on being a great three-point shooter, with other elements of his game not nearly as strong.
Korver had the league’s best three-point percentage in four separate seasons, with his best a very impressive .536.
His career three-point percentage of .429 is one of the best in history, and he ended his career with 2450 threes.
7. LeBron James
Possibly the best player in NBA history, if he isn’t it’s close, LeBron is an elite talent in a number of areas.
The leading points scorer in the NBA, with 42,184, it would be a surprise if he had not scored a lot of them from behind the three-point line.
Though he’s never been the leading three-point scorer in a season, LeBron has played for 22 years, and has racked up 2559 threes in his career so far, and there’ll be more to come.
6. Reggie Miller
Miller made the most three-pointers in the NBA both in 1992-93 and 1996-97, with 167 and 229 respectively.
Those seasons were on the way to a career total of 2560 threes, though it seems LeBron will surpass him very soon, and he’ll be pushed down to seventh on the all-time list.
5. Klay Thompson
Named one of the Splash Brothers alongside Steph Curry, for their proficiency in three-point scoring while in the backcourt for the Golden State Warriors, Thompson is one of the best three-point shooters to have ever played the game.
His most threes in a season of 301 was the highest total of any player in the 2022-23 season.
Thompson also has the most threes in a single game in NBA history, with 14 in just three quarters against the Chicago Bulls in 2018. Currently, he has 2697 threes in his career, at a percentage of .411.
4. Damian Lillard
Lillard has become known for knocking down threes from ridiculous distances in clutch moments, such as a game-winning buzzer beater over Paul George in the 2019 playoffs, seeing the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 4-1 in the series.
Lillard has knocked down north of 200 threes in nine different seasons, en route to a career total so far of 2804.
3. Ray Allen
Allen was the leader in three-pointers made in three of his NBA seasons, with his highest tally 269 in 2005-06.
He played an 18-year career, and knocked down 2973 three-pointers, which was the league record for around 10 years.
2. James Harden
A master of the step back three, Harden led the league in three-pointers in three consecutive seasons – 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.
The 378 he made in the second of those seasons is one of the highest totals in NBA history.
Harden has made 3175 threes in his career so far, and there should be more to come from the LA Clippers guard.
1. Steph Curry
For a long time, Curry looked likely to break the NBA three-point record, building his game on his talents in scoring from distance.
His fourth season in the league was his first time both attempting and making the most threes of any player. He did the same in five consecutive seasons, and has done it three times more since.
Curry’s most threes made in a season is 402 – the league record. He also holds the record for most three-pointers attempted, 9589, and made, 4058.
He broke Allen’s league record in 2021, and has since gone over 1000 three-pointers clear of him, with Harden going second on the list.
With Curry likely to play at least a couple more seasons, he could give himself a huge lead at the top of the three-point charts by the end of his career.
