It is very hard to make it in the NBA today without a jump shot. Only freak athletes or elite rim protectors can really get away without having one. Shooting is key to make it in the league today and this year’s draft class has shooters all over the place. This list is limited to only the players that have a likelihood of actually being drafted this year. It was very hard to limit this list to just five players, but here are the top five shooters in the 2021 NBA Draft.
#5 Joe Wieskamp, SG/SF, University of Iowa
Everybody knows that Iowa produces shooters. They ran a lineup of five knockdown shooters in their starting lineup this year, starring National Player of the Year Luka Garza in the middle. While Garza was the star, Wieskamp will likely be picked higher than him in the NBA draft. Wieskamp has great size for a wing at 6-foot-7 with a 6-foot-11 wingspan which allows him to shoot over defenders.
Wieskamp shot a ridiculous 46.2% from three this past season showcasing how great of shooter he is. What keeps Wieskamp a little lower on this list than you would expect is his free throw percentage. For someone who is as lethal as he is from downtown, he only shot 67.7% from the foul stripe last season. While the three-point numbers speak for themselves, the free-throw numbers are a little worrisome to some teams.
#4 Jared Butler, PG/SG, Baylor University
Butler was one of the best players in the nation this past season. He can score from any level and his offensive repertoire is very versatile. This past season he shot 41.6% from three on 6.2 attempts per game.
This is obviously a lower percentage than Wieskamp, but Butler gets the edge here. This is because Wieskamp was more of a spot-up shooter while Butler was doing a lot of his work off of the dribble.
Butler showed that he can hit all types of different shots. He was taking stepbacks, deep three-pointers, he was doing it all. He also has a very nice and developed mid-range game to give him a slight boost in these rankings. While he may not be as good of a standstill shooter as Wieskamp, he is much more valuable as a shooter.
#3 Isaiah Livers, SF/PF, University of Michigan
Livers can flat-out shoot. He shot 41.2% from three for his three-year career at Michigan. He also only got better as he matured, finishing with a 43.1% from three this past season. Livers is not a great athlete and is an older prospect, so he is not projected to go high in this upcoming draft. That does not take away from the fact that he is one of the best shooters in the country.
He has picture-perfect form and is super efficient, from the field, from three, and the free-throw line. He shot 85.6% from the line for his career, headlined by his sophomore season where he shot a ridiculous 95.7% from the stripe. Livers will most likely land with a team solely because of his outside shot.
#2 Trey Murphy, SF/PF University of Virginia
Murphy has been one of the largest risers in the draft over the past few months. It only makes sense that a 6-foot-9 forward with a 7-foot wingspan who is a good athlete is rising u the boards. The major selling point though is
that he is all of those things while being an extremely efficient shooter. He spent his first two collegiate years playing at Rice, where he showed that he had the talent to play at the high division one level. He then transferred to Virginia where he shot 43.3% from three and has played himself into getting picked within the first twenty picks in the draft.
Murphy is so much more than just a shooter, but that is what NBA teams will look to him for. He will be a 3-and-D forward in the NBA and every team wants to have as many of those as possible. He has a very quick shooting stroke that will definitely play at the next level. Murphy does not create too much for himself, but his super high free throw numbers coupled with his high percentage from three keep him this high on the list.
#1 Corey Kispert, SF, Gonzaga University
This one is a no-doubter. Kispert is the highest level of specialist. He has a quick and fundamentally sound shooting stroke. He is a proven shooter at the college level and looks very comfortable from NBA range. The extra distance will not faze him one bit. He shot 44% from three this past season on 6.5 attempts per game. He already shows the elite-level off-ball movement that all of the great three-point specialists have.
Kispert can run around screens, pick and pop, and even handle the ball in the pick and roll a bit to clear space for his jump shot. He can do it all when it comes to shooting. While he is not the greatest when creating his own shot, it is okay because this will not be his role at the next level. He will come into the league right away as an elite-level marksman. Kispert is truly one of the best shooters to enter the draft in years.