Metric shows that Zach LaVine is one of the best at what he does

Ever since Zach LaVine was traded to the Sacramento Kings for our now-former franchise icon, LaVine has been subject to a lot of criticism. The usual complaints about him not being a winning player or being an "empty-calorie scorer" have re-surfaced, and while some of those concerns are valid in certain contexts, people are forgetting the fact that LaVine is still a very good player.

So, in case you needed a reminder, here is a stat that shows just how dangerous of an offensive player LaVine is.

Zach LaVine is one of the best shooters in the NBA

The Twitter (I refuse to call it "X") account, Automatic (@automaticnba), has a metric that calculates who the best shooters are in the NBA in a given season. The measure is created by factoring in how many points a player adds with their pull-ups, catch-and-shoot threes, free throws, and long twos.

Based on that metric, LaVine owns the eighth-highest score, even ahead of one of the greatest scorers of all time, Kevin Durant.

Now, LaVine's positioning in this ranking may be a tad bit inflated because he has been red-hot this season. He's hitting a whopping 43.2% of his 7.4 threes per game. However, even then, LaVine has always had a pedigree as a good shooter. For his career, he is a 38.7% 3-point shooter, which is excellent given how high usage a player he is and how much attention he commands from opposing teams.

As you can see from the tweet, fan-favorite Keon Ellis is also in the top 40 on this list. Despite the team not doing great from downtown (19th in 3-point %), Ellis has been scintillating. On the season, he ishitting 45% of his 3.9 threes per game, further cementing his status as a premier role player in the association.

Some more good news is that, even with how rough of a shooting season we've had, no players on the Kings are on Automatic's top 40 worst shooters list.

Ironically enough, the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that usually gives us trouble, has the two worst shooters in the league based on this metric.

In any event, the next time you are hating on LaVine, remember how lucky we are to have a shooter of his caliber.