4 Reasons Why Blazers' Damian Lillard is Second Best Shooter Ever

There's no debate when it comes to Steph Curry at No. 1, but the NBA seems to have forgotten how lethal Damian Lillard is from the field

Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard reacts after scoring 71 points against the Houston Rockets on Feb. 26, 2023, at the Moda Center in Portland. | USA TODAY Sports

No one in their right mind would question Steph Curry as the greatest shooter the NBA has seen. However, when it comes to second place, it seems the NBA at large has forgotten about Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard up here in the corner of the country.

There’s arguments for guys like Klay Thompson or James Harden or even a throwback like Ray Allen. But Lillard stands above those three for these four exact reasons.

The numbers

Let’s dive right into the numbers.

Curry has the most 3-pointers made of all-time at 4,248 with Harden in second at 3,390. Allen is third at 2,973 and Thompson is fourth at 2,899.

Lillard comes in fifth at 2,804 averaging about 200 a season or 3.1 makes per game, which is the same number as Thompson.

Harden averages 2.8 makes per game from deep and Allen finished with 2.3 hits a night for his career (Curry is at an insane four per game).

Shooting is more than just 3-pointers as well, so let’s take a look at the true shooting percentage mark for each of these gentlemen.

Curry is in 10th all-time at 62.6 percent, followed by Harden in 30th at 60.8 percent and then Lillard at 59 percent in 64th. Allen is 95th at 58 percent and Thompson is 144th at 57.1 percent.

For his career, Lillard is at 37.1% from deep with Curry, Thompson and Allen ahead of him when it comes to our short list.

So what does it all mean?

Curry is clearly the best, for starters. You won’t hear the argument that Lillard is better than him.

But looking at these numbers, Lillard has proven to be a better overall shooter than Thompson or Allen, who lean more toward being 3-point specialists with their true shooting marks.

When it comes to Harden, he has made more threes but has played four more seasons than Lillard. If Lillard had four more years of at least 200 threes made he’d be about 200 ahead of Harden.

Now Harden does have the better true shooting percentage, but I’ll quickly raise my next point.

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) reacts after hitting the game winning shot against the Houston Rockets in game six of the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at the Moda Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Clutch

For starters, there’s no other player in the history of the NBA with the kind of buzzer beaters and clutch moments that Lillard has had from beyond the arc or in the closing moments of a game. (besides Curry of course).

There are two obvious and big ones, starting in May of 2014 when Lillard sent the Rockets home in the first round of the playoffs with a buzzer beater three, made even better on the call by Mike Tirico.

That was a Game 6 with the Blazers up 3-2 in the series. Without this shot, Portland is playing a Game 7 in Houston and might not have won that series, which made this hit even more clutch.

And then there is the even more iconic one over the Oklahoma City Thunder and Paul George in 2019 that sent so much into motion around the league.

There wasn’t the same kind of pressure on this shot with the Blazers up 3-1 in the series, but the depth of the shot and the absolute gall to even try it just show how Lillard is working on a different plane.

Harden is a playoff shrinker, there are no moments like this on his resume. And Thompson doesn’t have them either playing second fiddle to the best shooter of all time.

Allen certainly has an iconic moment with his 3-pointer in the 2013 NBA Finals against San Antonio, but I’d argue that was more of a circumstance.

Lillard knew he was getting the ball and all eyes were on him, Allen got a pass off a rebound in a scramble moment and had to go unconscious (and did only tie the game).

If you want to be the best, you have to be great at the moments that require nothing less than perfection, and Lillard has shown he can do that in spades.

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) shoots and ties the game in overtime against the Denver Nuggets during game five in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs. | USA TODAY Sports

Heaters

There have only been 16 box scores in NBA history that feature a player scoring 70 points, and of course, one of those is Lillard (something Curry hasn’t even done).

In that game on Feb. 26, 2023 against the Houston Rockets, Lillard went 13-of-22 from deep en route to 71 points, showcasing exactly what this man can do if you decide to give him any space.

Those 13 made 3-pointers are the second most in a game all-time, only behind 14 hits from Thompson in an October game in 2018.

However, let’s bring that clutch gene back in. Lillard has the most makes from deep in a playoff game all-time with 12 back in 2021 (a game the Blazers lost by the way). Thompson is second with 11. Oh, and third on the list is Lillard again with 10 hits, that being the same walk-off winner against the Thunder in 2019.

Lillard has made 10 or more 3-pointers in a game six times over the course of his career, which is only bested by Curry (28) and Thompson (9).

Again, Thompson fans might be sick of hearing this, but all nine of those games came with the Warriors and had the gravity of Curry next to him.

Lillard has been a one-man show doing this kind of shooting for his whole career and he still finds a way to knock down threes when the other team is selling out to stop him. He doesn’t have the luxury of taking less dribbles than made 3-pointers like Thompson had.

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard holds the trophy after winning the three point contest during the 2026 NBA All Star Saturday Night at Intuit Dome. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The extras

There are only two people to ever win the NBA 3-point Contest three times, one being Lillard and the other being – you guessed it – Craig Hodges of the Chicago Bulls from 1990-1992.

Curry has won it twice, Thompson once, Allen once and Harden never.

Mind you, that third win for Lillard came last season when he didn’t play a single game during the season to rest up from his Achilles tear. He won with one fully healthy leg.

And really what helped inspire this piece was the insane workouts that Lillard continues to post on social media.

Most recently it was a workout where Lillard hit 1,100 shots out of 1,168 attempts. That’s only 68 misses and an insane 94.2 percentage.

Sure, it’s a workout behind closed doors with no stakes and no pressure. But I haven’t seen these other guys posting workouts with those kinds of numbers.

My final two extras are to first look at the NBA 75th Anniversary team where you’ll notice Thompson is not on the squad while the other four here are in. Writers, players, coaches and GMs all voted on the team, and they know the kind of shooters these guys are.

And the final point from me is to just watch. Lillard’s stroke is truly a thing of basketball beauty that you can’t really knock for any imperfections.

Lillard is the shortest out of the four in the running for second-best all-time behind Curry, yet he’s able to get his shot off consistently with no real issues.

It’s because the man is a shooting genius, and there’s no one besides Curry who can match that kind of brilliance.