Jordan and James
Standout shooting
DeAndre Jordan and James Harden that is … Is this clickbait?
Let’s lay out a few facts to establish the groundwork:
DeAndre Jordan is good at making field goals.1
Deandre Jordan is bad at making free throws.2
James Harden is good at getting fouled and making free throws.
So what? Well they happen to be so good/bad at these things to be remarkably stark outliers in the entire history of NBA shooting.
DeAndre Jordan
As of this year’s All-Star break, Jordan has made 3,831 of his 5,685 field goal attempts in his 17 seasons in the NBA, a rate of 67.5%. That is the highest FG% in the entire history of the NBA. He’s 2 percentage points better than second place Rudy Gobert and 20 percentage points better than Steph Curry.
Obviously DeAndre Jordan is not a better shooter than Steph, but he makes it easier for himself, taking 83% of his shots from within 3 feet of the basket. Nearly half of his shots have been dunks, which he makes at a rate of 89%. That’s actually slightly below other top dunkers3, but still rockets up his overall percentage to best ever.
Meanwhile, Jordan has attempted 3,695 free throws in his career, and only made 1,755 of them. Spencer Dinwiddie, Jordan’s one-time teammate in Brooklyn, has made more in 1,500 fewer attempts. DJ’s 47.5% free throw rate is second worst in NBA history, only ahead of Ben Wallace4 and had the Nuggets announcers joking earlier this year that Denver fans should get free chicken when Jordan makes two in a row!
To recap: 1st in FG%, 2nd last in FT%. Here’s what that looks like compared to every other players’ field goal and free throw percentages:
Now, across the board, NBA players take a lot more field goals than free throws. Here is the median NBA player over the league’s history:
NBA players take more field goals, and therefore they also they also make and miss more field goals. Both components above - dark orange and light orange - are longer in the top bar than in the bottom bar.
DeAndre Jordan has taken nearly 2,000 more shots from the field than from the line. So, there’s no way he’s missed more from the line than the field, when he’s had 2,000 more attempts, right?
Welp, I’ll help you with the math:
DeAndre Jordan has missed more free throws (1,940) than field goals (1,854). He is the only player in NBA history with that unique distinction.
That raises the next question: Has anyone done the reverse, and made more free throws than field goals?
James Harden
Harden’s impressive (or annoying depending on your fandom) ability to draw fouls and make free throws puts him in a similarly unique place in NBA shooting history. Again, players take way more shots from the field than from the free throw stripe. Even with all of his foul drawing, Harden has still taken nearly 9,000 more field goals than free throws in his career. 9,000! Surely there’s no way he’s made more free throws in 9,000 fewer att…
Harden has made more free throws (7,985) than field goals (7,980). He is one of just a handful of NBA players to do this,5 and by far the one with the most shot attempts.
Nevermind.
Altogether, these two guys are quite the outliers6:
For those who read all the way through waiting for me to pivot back to Michael Jordan and Lebron James, here you go:
As my fiancé loves to point out, this is a crazy name: though basketball is played on a court and not a field, and successful attempts are called makes, not goals, a make from the court is called a field goal.
Also not free, especially for DeAndre Jordan.
Shaquille O’Neal, for example, made nearly 95% of his dunk attempts.
Who shot a dismal 41.4% from the free throw line.
Dolph Schayes (the famous basketball player / plumber) actually has the record for biggest gap, making a whopping 849 more free throws than field goals, but he took about 3,000 fewer shots that Harden. Corey Maggette is also up there with 540 more free throw makes.
Amongst 151 players to play 1,000+ games in NBA history.
Your fiancé makes a great point on field goals 😅
This is great!