Every regular-season box score in our archive, 1996-97 to 2025-26: how many threes teams took, how well they made them, and who took the most. No picks and no odds here, just the shot that changed basketball, counted.
Start with the plainest count there is: how many threes an NBA team put up in an average game, season by season.
Our archive opens in 1996-97, the last of three seasons the league played with a shorter line, 22 feet all the way round. Teams took 16.8 threes a game. For 1997-98 the line went back to 23 feet 9 inches (22 feet in the corners), where it has stayed, and attempts fell by 4.1 a game, to 12.7. Everything that follows starts from there.
For the next 18 seasons the climb was slow: about 0.56 more threes a game each season. By 2015-16 teams were taking 24.1.
Then it steepened: about 1.19 more a game every season, 2.1 times the old pace. The biggest one-season jump came in 2018-19: +3.0 threes a game.
2024-25 set the archive's high, 37.6 threes per team per game, and 2025-26 came in at 37.0: 2.9 times the 1997-98 rate.
If teams took 2.9× the threes, did they get better at making them?
Across all 30 seasons the league made between 33.9% (1998-99) and 36.7% (2008-09) of its threes. Teams didn't get much better at making them. They took more.
The line that rose is two-point shooting: 47.0% in 1997-98, 55.0% in 2025-26.
Per shot, the gap closed. In 1997-98 a three paid 1.04 points and a two 0.94. In 25 of the 29 seasons from 1997-98 on, a three paid more. From 2021-22 on, a two has paid as much or more in 4 of 5 seasons.
Points per shot here is the shot alone: three times 3P%, two times 2P%. Free throws from fouls are not in it.
It isn't a handful of specialists taking more of them: far more players now shoot threes at volume.
In 1997-98, 4 players took five or more threes a game. (The short-line season before had 23.)
Each square is one player's whole season, every team he played for added together. Only regulars count: players who appeared in 70% of the most games any team played, 58 of 82 in 1997-98.
2021-22 set the high: 77, about one regular in 3. 2025-26: 66.
The most threes a game by any regular in the archive: James Harden, 13.2 a game for HOU in 2018-19. Stephen Curry took the most threes a game of any regular in 9 seasons, lit up on the chart, more than anyone else since 1997-98.
League averages hide the spread. Here is every team's share of shots from three, every season.
In 1997-98 the Houston Rockets took more of their shots from three than any other team: 25.6%. The dashed line marks it. Every square is one team's season.
Season by season the squares climb past the line. By 2017-18, every team in the league took threes more often than the league's most three-happy team of 1997-98.
That season the Houston Rockets became the first team to take half their shots from three: 50.2%. In 2025-26 the least three-happy team, the Sacramento Kings, took 33.9%.
The rest of the game changed too. Possessions are estimated from each box score, the same way for every season.
Games got faster. Teams averaged 92.4 possessions per 48 minutes in 1997-98 and 101.3 in 2025-26.
Each possession is worth more, too: 102.7 points per 100 possessions in 1997-98, 113.5 in 2025-26.
Threes made up 13.8% of all points in 1997-98 and 34.5% in 2025-26 (the high: 35.7% in 2024-25).
Regular season only. The 1996-97 row is the last short-line season.
| Season | Threes a game | Share of shots | 3P% | 2P% | Pace | Pts / 100 | Players 5+ | Most three-happy team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-97 | 16.8 | 21.2% | 36.0% | 48.0% | 92.1 | 104.4 | 23 | MIA 29.9% |
| 1997-98 | 12.7 | 15.9% | 34.6% | 47.0% | 92.4 | 102.7 | 4 | HOU 25.6% |
| 1998-99 | 13.2 | 16.8% | 33.9% | 45.7% | 90.9 | 100.0 | 11 | HOU 24.1% |
| 1999-00 | 13.7 | 16.7% | 35.3% | 46.8% | 95.1 | 101.9 | 4 | HOU 24.4% |
| 2000-01 | 13.7 | 17.0% | 35.4% | 46.1% | 93.2 | 100.9 | 9 | BOS 25.2% |
| 2001-02 | 14.7 | 18.1% | 35.4% | 46.5% | 92.7 | 102.3 | 10 | BOS 28.9% |
| 2002-03 | 14.7 | 18.2% | 34.9% | 46.3% | 93.0 | 101.4 | 10 | BOS 33.1% |
| 2003-04 | 14.9 | 18.7% | 34.7% | 46.0% | 92.0 | 100.8 | 15 | SEA 29.4% |
| 2004-05 | 15.8 | 19.6% | 35.6% | 47.0% | 92.9 | 103.8 | 18 | PHX 28.9% |
| 2005-06 | 16.0 | 20.2% | 35.8% | 47.8% | 92.4 | 104.1 | 13 | PHX 29.3% |
| 2006-07 | 16.9 | 21.3% | 35.8% | 48.5% | 93.7 | 104.4 | 14 | HOU 29.0% |
| 2007-08 | 18.1 | 22.2% | 36.2% | 48.4% | 94.2 | 105.4 | 20 | ORL 32.2% |
| 2008-09 | 18.1 | 22.4% | 36.7% | 48.5% | 93.5 | 106.1 | 19 | ORL 33.5% |
| 2009-10 | 18.1 | 22.2% | 35.5% | 49.2% | 94.5 | 105.6 | 16 | ORL 35.0% |
| 2010-11 | 18.0 | 22.2% | 35.8% | 48.7% | 93.9 | 105.2 | 10 | ORL 32.8% |
| 2011-12 | 18.4 | 22.6% | 34.9% | 47.7% | 93.1 | 102.5 | 13 | ORL 34.6% |
| 2012-13 | 20.0 | 24.3% | 35.9% | 48.3% | 93.8 | 103.8 | 25 | NYK 35.4% |
| 2013-14 | 21.5 | 25.9% | 36.0% | 48.8% | 95.7 | 104.7 | 26 | HOU 33.0% |
| 2014-15 | 22.4 | 26.8% | 35.0% | 48.5% | 95.7 | 103.7 | 29 | HOU 39.2% |
| 2015-16 | 24.1 | 28.5% | 35.4% | 49.1% | 97.5 | 104.5 | 27 | HOU 37.0% |
| 2016-17 | 27.0 | 31.6% | 35.8% | 50.3% | 98.2 | 106.9 | 44 | HOU 46.2% |
| 2017-18 | 29.0 | 33.7% | 36.2% | 51.0% | 99.0 | 106.8 | 47 | HOU 50.2% |
| 2018-19 | 32.0 | 35.9% | 35.5% | 52.0% | 101.9 | 108.4 | 56 | HOU 51.9% |
| 2019-20 | 34.1 | 38.4% | 35.8% | 52.4% | 102.1 | 108.7 | 66 | HOU 50.1% |
| 2020-21 | 34.6 | 39.2% | 36.7% | 53.0% | 100.8 | 110.5 | 66 | UTA 48.8% |
| 2021-22 | 35.2 | 39.9% | 35.4% | 53.3% | 99.9 | 110.1 | 77 | UTA 46.8% |
| 2022-23 | 34.2 | 38.7% | 36.1% | 54.8% | 100.9 | 112.8 | 69 | DAL 48.7% |
| 2023-24 | 35.1 | 39.5% | 36.6% | 54.5% | 100.2 | 113.3 | 72 | BOS 47.1% |
| 2024-25 | 37.6 | 42.1% | 36.0% | 54.5% | 100.6 | 112.5 | 73 | BOS 53.6% |
| 2025-26 | 37.0 | 41.5% | 36.0% | 55.0% | 101.3 | 113.5 | 66 | GSW 49.7% |
Every box score in this story is in Betting Buddy's stats reference: 30 seasons of players, teams and games, searchable and free with an account.
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