5 NBA teams with the most 3-pointers made in the last 10 seasons
At the beginning of the last decade, the NBA was mesmerized by the impact of Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, and Dirk Nowitzki's shooting from outside the three-point line. They would bully opponents, stretch their defense to create space inside, and shoot from outside if the defender stayed close to the paint.
The American Basketball Association (ABA), the NBA's competitor league in the 70s, used three-pointers as a tool to draw the crowd away from the reigning basketball league of the world. However, the ABA ended in 1976 and three years later, NBA introduced the three-pointer line in its games.
Since then 10 players have made more than 2000 three-pointers in their NBA careers. Ray Allen still holds the record for the most three-pointers made by a player with an astonishing 2973 threes, only 27 shy for a 3000.
What began as an outlier skill, adopted by shorter players to find a way to score while big players were guarding the paint, has become mandatory for teams to win. With modern teams employing more and more advanced defensive strategies, it was imperative that teams and players find offense that could keep the attack going.
Five NBA teams with the most three-pointers
These are the teams that have truly adopted the modern era of three-pointers. They invested in players who showed the potential to become ranged shooters, created strategies to attack from the three-pointer line, and pull defenders out to the perimeter. In the past decade, all these five NBA teams have scored over 8000 three-pointers.
#5 Atlanta Hawks - 8012
The Eastern Conference finalists of 2020-21 rank fifth on this list. The Atlanta Hawks are loaded with ranged shooters. Their roaster includes Trey Young, arguably one of the top three three-point shooters in the league. In his three seasons in the NBA, Trey has scored from beyond the three-point line 497 times. That's almost 166 three-pointers per season.
The team from Atlanta currently also has Bogdan Bogdanovich and Kevin Huerter. Both are efficient shooters, averaging 38.8 and 37.6 three-pointer percentages respectively. The Atlanta Hawks have shot from outside the three-pointer line 22358 times and made 8012 of them.
#4 Portland Trail Blazers - 8277
While thinking of the Portland Trail Blazers, we cannot help but remember that deep clutch three by Damian Lillard against the Oklahoma City Thunder to secure their ticket to the 2018-19 Western Conference semifinals. That play still gives us goosebumps.
The current team has six players that are a threat from the three-point line and Damian Lillard is one of them. As a shooter, Dame has a range and accuracy second to perhaps Steph Curry. In clutch moments he goes into an unstoppable mental and physical zone called Dame Time wherein he can attack the bucket, break ankles, and shoot long destructive threes. He has hit 2051 threes in his career, taking his team's total in the past decade to 8277.