Getting to the free-throw line has become an increasingly important part of the game. What used to be an incidental side effect of playing hard has become a core directive for many players over the last few years. The trend of working the whistle to earn easy shots from the stripe was largely brought into the spotlight thanks to guys like James Harden and DeMar DeRozan, who mastered the art of baiting their opponents with calculated footwork and well-timed shooting motions. When it comes to fantasy, considering a player's ability to get to the line can be a good way to secure easy points in points leagues, while being sure to scoop up a couple of confident shooters is key in 8/9-cat leagues. In this article, we will look at a handful of the league's best players when it comes to getting to the line and efficiency at the line. In the ideal situation, these two skills overlap, however, that is not always the case.
Top-Five Highest-Percentage Free-Throw Shooters
Stephen Curry is working on a relatively modest season by his own standards, as he is averaging 22.7 points per game, which is the fifth-lowest mark among his 16 NBA seasons. Nonetheless, he remains one of the league's most effective shooters, hitting over 40 percent from downtown and leading the league by knocking down 93.5 percent of his attempts from the foul line. Despite making the most of his opportunities at the line, Curry is also averaging just 3.5 free-throw
Getting to the free-throw line has become an increasingly important part of the game. What used to be an incidental side effect of playing hard has become a core directive for many players over the last few years. The trend of working the whistle to earn easy shots from the stripe was largely brought into the spotlight thanks to guys like James Harden and DeMar DeRozan, who mastered the art of baiting their opponents with calculated footwork and well-timed shooting motions. When it comes to fantasy, considering a player's ability to get to the line can be a good way to secure easy points in points leagues, while being sure to scoop up a couple of confident shooters is key in 8/9-cat leagues. In this article, we will look at a handful of the league's best players when it comes to getting to the line and efficiency at the line. In the ideal situation, these two skills overlap, however, that is not always the case.
Top-Five Highest-Percentage Free-Throw Shooters
Stephen Curry is working on a relatively modest season by his own standards, as he is averaging 22.7 points per game, which is the fifth-lowest mark among his 16 NBA seasons. Nonetheless, he remains one of the league's most effective shooters, hitting over 40 percent from downtown and leading the league by knocking down 93.5 percent of his attempts from the foul line. Despite making the most of his opportunities at the line, Curry is also averaging just 3.5 free-throw attempts per game, which is the fourth fewest of his career and almost half of his career high of 6.3 attempts per game in 2020-21.
Anfernee Simons has not been able to establish a great amount of consistency this season and has taken a slight step back when compared to the last couple of years, as he is averaging 18.7 points per game, down from over 20 in each of the previous two campaigns. However, he is maintaining fantastic consistency at the foul line, where he is averaging above 91 percent for a second consecutive season. He only averages 2.6 free throws per game, which is also down from 3.9 last season, but with his high ceiling and hot shooting from the line, he makes a strong pick in 8/9-cat leagues.
Damian Lillard continues to stand out as one of the league's best all-around shooters and is hitting over 91 percent from the foul line for a third consecutive season. Additionally, what makes his free-throw shooting much more impressive is the fact that he averages 6.7 attempts per game, which is the most among any of the league's nine most efficient free-throw shooters. This means that Lillard is securing a significant amount of his points per game at the line, making him a highly reliable points league contributor and a star in category leagues.
Jonas Valanciunas is not likely a player that would come to mind when thinking of the top-five most efficient free-throw shooters, but he ranks fourth in the league while knocking down 91.0 percent on 2.1 attempts per game. Valanciunas has always shown a good shooting touch for a big man, but he is currently blowing past his previous career high of 82.6 percent from the foul line. Despite playing mostly out of a bench role, he continues to put up solid numbers across the board. However, if he ever makes his way back into a starting position with his current squad or via trade, he could quickly become a gem for category league managers.
In his fourth NBA season, Jalen Suggs has shown notable improvement in virtually all stat categories and is a major contributor to the Magic's success, especially in helping the team stay afloat through injuries to their top two players. One of the most significant areas of improvement for Suggs has been his free-throw shooting, as he is knocking down 90.7 percent from the line, up from 75.6 percent last season. With his ability to contribute across the board, including averaging 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks per game, Suggs has become a stand-out choice for points league managers, while the addition of his efficiency from the line makes him extremely valuable in category leagues.
Missing Out At The Line
Giannis Antetokounmpo is so incredibly productive on the court that it is hard to ask any more out of him as a player. However, the fact that he leads the league with an average of 10.5 free-throw attempts per game, yet is shooting a career-worst 58.8 percent from the line cannot go unnoticed. It is understandable that he may never become a knock-down three-point shooter, but Antetokounmpo is certainly leaving a lot of points on the table by not establishing a reliable stroke from the charity stripe. The lack of success from the line also makes him significantly less desirable than guys like Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in category leagues.
RJ Barrett is working on career numbers in points, rebounds and assists per game, but the sixth-year swingman is struggling with a 69.9 success rate from the foul line, which is his worst mark since his rookie season. His struggles are amplified since he is doing a good job getting to the line with an average of 5.8 attempts per game, which is the second-most among the league's top-30 worst free-throw shooters. Nonetheless, Barrett will likely show improvement in this area as he continues to emerge as one of the top players at his position.
Similar to Barrett, Jonathan Kuminga is taking steps towards becoming a dominant player in his role, including doing a great job of getting to the foul line, with 5.3 attempts per game. However, he too is struggling with his shot, hitting just 63.9 percent from the stripe. Additionally, with an average of 16.8 points per game, Kuminga is forgoing a significant portion of his potential output by not coming through at the foul line. This area of difficulty makes it substantially less worthwhile to draft him in category leagues, compared to points league, where he can be a great pick up later in drafts, or a good player to target in a trade.
