The Dallas Mavericks hosted the Brooklyn Nets Monday night, notching a 113-105 win. Cooper Flagg and Naji Marshall led the way, but Klay Thompson had himself a hot shooting night en route to 18 points.
Thompson missed all four of his shot attempts inside the arc, but nailed 6-of-9 from downtown in a throwback performance where it seemed he just could not miss from deep. Thompson dipped into his bag of tricks and pulled out the quick release, the catch-it-high/shoot-it-high shots and the savvy screen usage he is known for, to have himself a throwback night.
When it was all said and done, Thompson increased his number of regular-season 3-pointers made to a staggering 2,801. Thompson has maintained a solid hold as the fifth most prolific 3-point shooter (in terms of makes) for some time now, but his efforts against the Nets made him only the fifth player ever to connect on 2,800 or more. Better still, Thompson is poised to move up to the number four spot as soon as next game, as he sits only three three-pointers behind Damian Lillard for fourth on the list.
What Thompson has accomplished, and will surely continue to accomplish, is really nothing short of staggering. Stephen Curry rightfully garners all the attention with his absurd total of 4,199 three-pointers made (nearly 1,000 more than James Harden at number two), but there is more to Thompson’s story than immediately meets the eye.
Thompson is currently playing in his 13th season. Remember, he missed two entire seasons due to injury, and only played 32 games during the season in which he returned. If we do some loose math and call it 12 seasons played (combining the less than half-season return from injury, and the less than half season we are currently in), that equates to an average of 233 made threes per season. If he actually played in the two seasons he missed and simply hit his average, he could easily be sitting north of 3,200 right now. That would put him neck-and-neck with James Harden for the number two spot.
As poetic as it would be for the Splash Brothers to be number one and number two, it may not ever happen. Thompson will likely pass Damian Lillard and then Ray Allen, while staving off the only other three active players who are reasonably close to him (Lebron James, Paul George and Kevin Durant) for a firm hold on the number three spot for the foreseeable future.
It’s unclear how long Thompson’s tenure in Dallas will be, but his time in Big D will forever be a part of the history books.
Here is a rundown of where Thompson sits coming into game action Tuesday night:
- #1. Stephen Curry (4,199)
- #2. James Harden (3,291)
- #3. Ray Allen (2,973)
- #4. Damian Lillard (2,804)
- #5. Klay Thompson (2,801)
- #6. Lebron James (2,590)
- #9. Paul George (2,399)
- #12. Kevin Durant (2,266)
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