What is the 50-40-90 club in basketball?

The 50-40-90 club in basketball refers to shooting percentages for different designated shots.

The 50 represents your shooting percentage from the field (all shots taken during a live game). The 40 represents your shooting percentage from 3 points, and the 90 represents your shooting percentage from the free throw line.

This is a very difficult and exclusive club to be in, although we are seeing it more and more as the game has evolved. 

How many players are part of the 50-40-90 club in basketball?

It is important to note that the 50-40-90 club has only been a possibility since the introduction of the 3-point line in the 1979-80 season in the NBA.

Having said that, there are only two players who have achieved this feat more than once in their careers. Larry Bird was the first to do it and he achieved these marks in back-to-back seasons in 1986-87 and 1987-88. Steve Nash achieved this feat 4 times and only missed it a 5th time by one free throw!

Steve Nash would’ve done it 5 years in a row from 2005-2010 except for being one free throw shy in the 2006-07 season. The other players to qualify for the 50-40-90 club in the NBA are Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Malcolm Brogdon, and most recently Kyrie Irving.

One player qualified in the G-League (the NBA’s minor league affiliate program) in 2017-18 and that was Quinn Cook. Not surprisingly, he was signed to an NBA contract soon thereafter and has been playing in the league ever since. One player in the WNBA has also achieved these marks in 2019, and that was Elena Delle Donne. 

Here is a list of all of the 50-40-90 club members in NBA history:

Player	Season	FG%	3Point %	FT %
Larry Bird	86-87	53%	40%	91%
Larry Bird	87-88	53%	41%	92%
Mark Price	88-89	53%	44%	90%
Reggie Miller	93-94	50%	91%	91%
Steve Nash	05-06	51%	47%	91%
Dirk Nowitzki	06-07	50%	42%	90%
Steve Nash	07-08	50%	47%	91%
Steve Nash	08-09	50%	44%	93%
Kevin Durant	09-10	51%	42%	91%
Steph Curry	15-16	50%	45%	91%
Malcolm Brogon	18-19	51%	40%	92%
Kyrie Irving	20-21	51%	40%	92%

What part of the 50-40-90 club is hardest to qualify for?

Naturally, you would think that 40% from behind the 3-point line is the most difficult to achieve as it is the most difficult shot to make in basketball, but there are many factors to take into consideration.

For a forward or center, it is much more common to shoot above 50% from the field seeing how they play the game much closer to the basket, centers especially. It is not uncommon for multiple centers to have field goal percentages well above 50%, sometimes even above 60%. 

Deandre Jordan has the highest field goal percentage over the course of his career at 67%. Jordan is known mainly for dunking the basketball (the easiest shot in basketball for a center) over the course of his career, which can be reflected in the nickname given to the Los Angeles

Clippers when he played for them, “Lob City”, referring to the frequencies of alley-oops the team would successfully execute. Although it’s becoming more common for centers to shoot from behind the 3-point line, and do it efficiently, the guards are still the best, which is why they spend the majority of their time on the floor behind the 3-point line.

Deandre Jordan isn’t a good 3-point shooter, and is one of the worst free throw shooters in the game, even though free throws are typically some of the easiest shots to make. This is very common for big men. You can see how it gets complicated to answer this question pretty quickly.

It is typically player dependent on which is the most difficult shot to make. Having said that, if you look at the frequency and volume of players who have shot above 50% from the field, 40% from behind the three-point line, and 90% from the free-throw line, on an individual statistical basis, shooting above 90% from the free throw line is the most difficult to achieve.

There are fewer players, who have done it less frequently, shooting above 90% from the free throw line than there are players who have shot above 50% from the field and 40% from the three-point line. 

Here is a great video that gives some highlights of some of the 50-40-90 club members:

What is the highest single-season 3-point percentage in NBA history?

The highest single-season 3-point percentage ever recorded belongs to Kyle Korver at 53.6%. Something to note in this case, Korver only played 52 of the 82 games that season.

Stever Kerr comes in second, at 52.4% from behind the 3-point line, and he played in all 82 games. Both players averaged only 2.1 three-point attempts per game. Steve Kerr also holds the record for highest 3-point percentage over a career at 45.4%

What is the highest single-season free throw percentage in NBA history?

The highest single-season free throw percentage in NBA history is held by Jose Calderon at 98% during the 2008-09 season. Calderon only averaged 2.3 free throws per game and only played in 62 of the 82 games that season. Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy comes in second with 95.8% in the 1980-81 season.

Murphy played in 76 games and averaged 2.8 free throws per game. Stephen Curry holds the record for the highest free throw percentage over the course of his career at 90.8% 

What is the highest single-season field goal percentage in NBA history?

The highest single-season field goal percentage in NBA history is held by Mitchell Robinson at 74.2% during the 2019-20 season. Robinson only played in 61 games that season and attempted 5.6 field goals per game.

In second place is Wilt Chamberlain at 72.7%. He attempted 7.1 shots per game and played in all 82 games that year. This is the fewest number of shots Chamberlain ever took during a season, and if not for the prior year where he only attempted 9.3 per game, it would be the fewest by far, as he averaged around 25 shots per game over his career.

Chamberlain was never close to such a high percentage during the seasons where he attempted 20 shots or more. With more volume, comes less consistency typically, which is why I’ve included the stipulations around games played and field goals attempted. 

Summary

Joining the 50-40-90 club is quite an impressive feat that only some of the best shooters in the world have the capability to do. In addition to being great shooters, the members of the 50-40-90 club also need to have exceptional shot-creation ability and athleticism to achieve such impressive statistics against NBA defenders. The Warriors have helped change the way teams look at shooting in recent years, and we should continue to see new members of the 50-40-90 club in the coming years as shooting improves across the NBA.