NBA Shooters tier list: Where does Kevin Huerter rank?

Kevin Huerter is a certified marksman. For his career, Huerter has hit 891 3-pointers, which is already good for 191st all-time. And given that he just turned 26 (August 27), he will have plenty of time to climb up the all-time leaderboards.

But just how good of a shooter is Huerter right now compared to the rest of the NBA?

How Good Of A Shooter Is Kevin Huerter?

Conventional wisdom will tell you that the best way to measure shooting is to look at a player’s 3-point shooting percentage. On the surface, that makes sense. But the problem with that line of thinking is that 3-point shooting can have a lot of variability, and it can change drastically for individual players from season to season.

What we mean by that is not every 3-point shot is created equal. Some are wide open. Some are heavily contested. Some come in a blowout when no one on defense is really trying. Yes, 3-point percentage is an important statistic. But it by itself shouldn’t be the end-all-be-all for determining the title of best shooter.

What we need is a statistic that can balance both of those variables to help us determine a player’s shooting. That makes the Shooting Quality metric (available on the invaluable Crafted NBA website) the perfect tool. Shooting Quality looks at 3-point shooting, free throw shooting, and spacing to try and calculate who the best shooters in basketball are.

When you look at that metric, Huerter ranked 118th in the NBA last season. That number is pretty low, but it is also worth noting that Huerter is coming off a down shooting year. So, his standing in Shooting Quality is lower than it would be in a normal year – both in 3-point shooting and free throw shooting.

Last year, Huerter shot 36.1 from downtown. The year before that, he shot 40.2% from three, and the year before that he shot 38.9%. As for free throw shooting, Huerter hit 76.6% of his shots at the charity stripe in 2023-24. From 2019 to 2022, Huerter shot at least 78.1% from the free throw line, including two years where he was over 80.8%. If he sees a positive regression to the mean in 2024-25 (which I believe he will do, especially now that he'll be healthy again), his standing in Shooting Quality is much, much higher.

Other Good Shooters On The Kings

Outside of Huerter, the other two Kings that ranked in the top 125 are Malik Monk (89th) and Keon Ellis (125th). Seeing Ellis (a defense-first player) be on this list is just another reason why he is such an underrated role player.

Keegan Murray – the Kings' other sharpshooter – didn't make the top 125. He, like Huerter, had a down year shooting-wise (35.8% from three after shooting 41.1% in 2022-23) that hurt his Shooting Quality.

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