Lonzo Ball currently has a better 3-point percentage than Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson
The league's been in a bit of a turbulent run lately. None of the teams in the West look like top contenders, and the ones that were expected to, are going through a rough patch. Much to the dismay of the NBA fans around the world, the Golden State Warriors & the Houston Rockets who were firm favourites before the season kicked off haven't yet shown up in the way they were supposed to.
Following such upheaval in the team standings, we have had certain statlines that, while not permanent, do tell us how startling the early effects have been.
One of them being that Lonzo Ball of the new-look Lakers is leading Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson in 3-point percentage, something the latter has a reputation for. And we'd like to analyse how that came into being.
Everybody knew Lonzo had an ugly shot when he came into the league. But he knew adjustments had to be made following his not-so-impressive rookie season when he shot 25% from downtown in the opening 23 games. Though he still shoots it from the side of his head, he simplified his release and cut down on unnecessary movement this past summer.
Fast forward to the present scenario, he is shooting 34.3% from beyond the arc in the 16 games that have taken place, leaving behind KD (32.4%) and Klay Thompson (32.1%), some of the premier experts from deep.
But there is certainly more to this than meets the eye. The Warriors are evidently riding out a rough patch due to Curry's injury as well as some internal issues of conflict lately, hence we can say with utmost certainty that this is not the best that the Dubs have to offer this season. There is surely better basketball to come.
One peculiar fact that stands out though is that Zo has taken and made more 3-point shots than KD this season so far. The numbers say they are 24 of 70 & 22 of 68 from the 3-point line respectively. The reflected interpretation is two-sided.
While it means that Lonzo is more confident in his outside shot than he was before and is making more of them because of the work he put in this past offseason, it also suggests that Durant's not himself right now.
The Warriors find themselves in an unfamiliar 4th position in the West with a 12-6 record. On the other hand, the Lakers are just beginning to find solid ground and are playing collectively as a unit.
It's a marathon 82-game season, and we haven't even scraped a fourth of it yet, so it's safe to say the statlines and standings will change for sure. The fact that Lonzo is beating KD & Klay on their own turf is pretty intriguing though.