Getty Kevin Durant, Nets
It has become, in the NBA’s 3-point era, the most despised shot in the league. Basketball analytics tell us that it should be despised, that truly efficient offense comes only at the basket, from the 3-point stripe or at the foul line. The long-distance 2-pointer has gone the way of short shorts, Chuck Taylors and peach-basket hoops.
Unless, that is, you are Nets star Kevin Durant.
There’s a handful of NBA players who shoot from the midrange as much as Durant does. Problem is, there is no one who knocks down those midrange shots with the ease with which Durant is able to knock them down.
Kevin Durant is shooting 71% from midrange this season. Cheat code.
“It is funny,” one NBA assistant coach told Heavy.com. “You got all these analytics people in the front office, all of them study what are good shots, what are bad shots. You got media people crunching the numbers, all of the websites. And it is all good information, it is all correct. You should not shoot midrange jumpers because they’re just not good shots in terms of value. I mean, I’ve heard front offices willing to not allow players to take certain shots, like you are forbidden from the midrange. Because they’re not the high-value shots. Unless you are Kevin Durant. Like, it all goes out the window for him because that shot is as automatic as a layup for a lot of players.”
Durant Is Well Ahead of Other Top Midrange Shooters
That is no exaggeration. There are good midrange shooters in the game today. According to NBA.com/stats, there are six players in the league who take more midrange attempts per game than Durant (who takes 5.6) this season—DeMar DeRozan, Brandon Ingram, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Dejounte Murray and Paul George.
Combined, those players shoot 43.4% on midrange jumpers, and none shoots better than George, at 48.9%. But then there is Durant: 58.9%. Yes, take the best midrange shooters in the game, mash them up, and Durant is still more than 15% better than them, and 10% better than second-best.
That was what Warriors coach Steve Kerr was saying this week before his team played Durant’s Nets.
“There is no tough shot, and honestly, that’s what makes Kevin special, even amongst his peers,” Kerr said, according to the Daily News. “There’s no such thing as a tough shot. He gets to shoot whatever he shot he wants. It’s basically up to him whether it goes in or not for the most part. That doesn’t mean you don’t try to do certain things. We have plenty of strategy going into the game, but you can’t you can’t really dictate a possession with Kevin like you can with some guys, even some All-Star players.”
Long 2s Don’t Scare Durant
Even more impressive is how accurate Durant has been on the long side of his midrange shots. According to Basketball-Reference.com, which breaks down midrange jumpers into 10-16 feet and 16 feet out to the 3-point line, Durant has been excellent on the 10-16-footers, where he takes the bulk of his shots. He makes 56.3% of those, which represents a career high.
But on the longer 2-pointers, from 16 feet out, Durant is in unchartered territory. He’s always been good at knocking down those shots, making 44.1% of them heading into this season, but he is making, incredibly, 65.9% of his 16-plus-foot 2-pointers. George, by way of comparison, has been excellent at 47.2% from that region. More common are the numbers on long 2s from DeRozan (35.9%) and Embiid (36.8%).
For some context, there is Booker, who makes 42.2% from 16 feet out to the 3-point line. He also makes 54.1% from within 3 feet of the basket. Booker is one of the best shooters in the game, and yet Durant is 5.8% better from 16 feet than Booker from three feet.
Like the scout said: As automatic as a layup.
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Nets Star Paving Impressive Ground With This ‘Forbidden’ Shot