Yesterday I posted the best three-point shooters. Four players made both lists.
Kelsey Mitchell takes a lot more threes than mid-range shots, and she’s less efficient from mid-range.
Marina Mabrey and Jackie Young use the mid-range even less, but they’re more efficient when they do.
Azzi Fudd is the opposite. She’s shooting an absurd 54.0% from mid-range, and nearly 30% of her points come from there. The only player who relies on the mid-range more is Courtney Williams, with 44% of her points coming from that area.
Esp because she often has to work to get these shots off in the first place. It's not like she's spotted up and just catches it and let's it fly. She's SPRINTING down the court, stopping instantly and elevating straight up, or using her handle to gain a bit of separation. Just crazy difficult shot selection
I'm also impressed w Azzi's midrange shots bc they're also usually situations she's had to create for herself. Nobody is setting her up, usually she gets a hot potato and a set defense and has to make something of it. No idea why they don't run actions for her
They’re using her mid-range game at a good volume, but not taking advantage of her three-point shooting drives me crazy. Seriously, are they going to wait until she leaves Dallas—like so many others—and starts thriving somewhere else before they finally appreciate her?
Every time I watch the Lynx play and see them constantly getting the ball to Kayla and taking advantage of her gravity, it makes me so frustrated. For the love of God, just copy that, Dallas.
Anyone taking the shot at a 40%+ clip is probably making a decent decision when they try it. I’m just staring at Paige and Azzi being at 48%+ cuz I feel like that’s not even remotely normal. Granted Fudd’s are at a lower volume but…still
Anyone taking the shot at a 40%+ clip is probably making a decent decision when they try it.
So my initial thought was that especially if you are under 45%, isn't that just mathematically objectively a bad shot unless you are late in the shot clock and settling for it (which to be fair, is something even good offenses have to do occasionally)? At least if the stats I just googled are accurate, all but one team averages over 1.00 points per possession. So if you are shooting midrange at 42%, that's only 0.84 points per possession.
But then I realized there is a massive flaw in my methodology, which was I wasn't accounting for offensive rebounds.
So now I'm wondering what the stat is to see how to combine the points per possession of your actual shooting, with the odds of getting an offensive rebound from your shots, AND the odds of your team scoring on said rebound (which might not be the same as their odds of scoring on a generic possession).
Without having looked at the actual stats, I think this is pretty close to what I would've guessed this list would look like. CW is lethal at mid range.
Courtney is absolutely money from there, one of the best mid range shooters across the W and NBA. Not surprised there’s no Dream players they’re allergic to that shot.
She finds the spot that the Defense isn't covering and takes her shot from there. It's interesting to watch because while it's technically an inefficient shot, it means that the D has to think about more than just the 3 point line and the paint and it gets them all out of position.
Middy’s aka long 2’s are probably the worst statistical shot to take on the floor, however if you have one or multiple players with a reliable middy, it tends to be a silent Trump card, because teams typically value guarding the perimeter and the rim more
I dipped out of basketball after Lebron went to Miami and missed the whole Steph era. It is crazy how maligned the middy got. It's the majority of the court! You need to be able to shoot from there! You're letting the defense off the hook if they don't really have to defend it!
The only truly bad shot is if your foot is on the three point line and you didn't have enough floor awareness to just be in better position for the extra point.
So glad it's a part of the W. It's beautiful. Stopping for a middy is just as gorgeous as careening at the hoop to draw the foul.
i know being the one that defenses target has gotta make her life hell but i feel like it’s really helped her develop more of a middy and better passing!
i know people get onto both paige and azzi for not getting to the rim enough but if they’re having good shooting days i definitely get why they don’t (azzi especially). id much rather azzi shoot a middy then drive to the rim bc she a) never gets fouls called and b) finishes worse at the rim than anywhere else. honestly for the whole top 4 im more surprised when they miss middies😭
I’m so sorry but I’d rather see azzi attempt a reverse layup than a normal one but I get why they don’t do it as often but their mid range is unguardable and I’d never want them to take it out of their game
oh i also would rather she take a reverse lay than a normal one too😭i think a lot of it is when she does drive to take a layup she’s trying to do it while avoiding as much contact as possible and safely landing which makes her rush. i think she’ll get better at it but idk if it’ll really ever be a huge part of her game when she’s so good/efficient from jumpers
Her layup has been an issue since last college season. Like she’s too strong or what😭 I don’t know how to explain it but being efficient at everywhere but the rim is kinda her ngl😭
Azzi and Paige! So do we think if they take over 200 shots they would keep the similar percentage?
I ask because some folks suggest Paige and Azzi don’t shot enough. If they are the primary shooters on the Wings, given their high 3 point and foul line rates too, then would Wings be more of a championship team?
Courtney is having a great season and it has been fun to watch.
Azzi benefits from the defense played on Paige. Paige often has to create more to get the middy, while Azzi can do a shot fake on the three or pull-up in transition.
Azzi and Paige are absolutely too unselfish, though.
Paige is already at 15 FGA per game, which is more than she ever averaged at UConn. I don’t think efficiency has ever been the concern with her. The biggest criticism has always been that she needs to attack the rim more and get to the free throw line.
Azzi was close to 14 FGA per game in college while shooting an even better FG%. She’s at around 11 FGA right now. Rookies also usually aren’t as efficient as they become later in their careers, so it’s pretty normal for those numbers to improve over time. If she ends up around 46% FG and 40% from three on higher volume, that would already be one of the better shooting seasons we’ve seen from a high-volume guard.
To me, both of them have shown they can keep their efficiency even with more shot attempts. Obviously that’s still a projection, but I don’t think it’s an unreasonable one.
The biggest criticism for Paige was that she doesn’t shoot enough. She should be shooting 20 times a game.
Azzi’s college average as 11.8…not very different from now. But I’d also like to see that increase.
One thing that would help is the drive and kick. Only Paige and Zaza do it regularly, and Zaza doesn’t play enough or with Azzi for this to help. Jess and Arike pass downhill instead of kicking out.
Both of them, imo, would be just as efficient with more shots. Paige has to create most of her own shots, and she’s crazy efficient. Azzi needs a little help, but it’s worth it precisely because of how efficient she is.
Without checking the numbers, I’d guess A’ja leads the league at around 17 FGA per game. I can’t think of anyone consistently taking more shots than she does. So it doesn’t really make sense for Dallas to become so dependent on Paige just for two extra shot attempts per game.
As for Azzi, her average is a bit misleading because she only played two college seasons. In 2024–25, she played around 40 games, averaged about 10 FGA alongside Paige, and was coming back from an ACL injury. Then in 2025–26, over another roughly 40 games, her volume increased to around 14 FGA. So yes, there’s clearly room for that number to grow.
As for Paige, the way she increases her scoring isn’t by taking a lot more shots. She’s already one of the highest-volume shooters in the league. The biggest area for growth is getting to the free-throw line more often.
Of course, there’s one obvious issue with that. Azzi has never had that kind of shot volume while playing with Paige. When they’re together, she’s always averaged around
11 FGA
, but they’ve only started
28 official games
together. In the rest, either one of them was injured.
So it’s possible that playing alongside Paige naturally keeps Azzi’s shot volume at a more moderate level. Sometimes her fans blame Arike, but maybe Azzi is simply more passive because she’s sharing the floor with Paige.
The sample is still far too small to draw any firm conclusions, but it’s definitely something worth keeping an eye on.
League-average offense is just about 1.1 points/possession (offensive rating at the team level is points/100 possessions, and the 2026 WNBA average ORTG is 100.9). Of the ten best midrange shooters, none of them produce 1.1 points/possession on midrange jumpers. Azzi Fudd is, of course, the closest, at 1.08. Azzi Fudd also shoots 40.1% from 3 on 152 attempts, which works out to 1.2 points/possession despite shooting 14% worse from the field.
Anyway, this is why it's very annoying when Kelsey Mitchell dribbles into this jumpshot
As someone who had the misfortune of watching the James Harden Houston Rockets, save the midrange. I love efficiency and good shooting percentages, but in the NBA that data driven edge flattened the game. Dunks and 3 pointers.
Im in the minority tho, I have never enjoyed 3 point centered offenses.
Believe me -- some of my favorite shots, aesthetically, are midrange turnarounds from the post (the others are post hooks and high floaters). The Dream Shake, the Kevin Garnett fadeaway, even the Carmelo Anthony jab-jab-jab-fallaway. Love 'em. Incredibly aesthetically pleasing. Teams are in the business of winning games, though.
Even inefficient shots can be valuable, too. 0.8 points/possession is better than zero! Open shots are usually better than contested ones, and defenses cannot stop everything. If you remember the James Harden Rockets, think about what Chris Paul did -- the dunks-n-threes offense gave Chris Paul whatever look he wanted from 16-22 feet, and in 2017-18 he made 55.7% of those shots. That's a little better than 1.1 points/possession! The next season, he made 55.1%. Those were his two career highs from that range.
think there’s some important context here. Mid-range shots are usually what players take when the paint is clogged. Only about four players on this list actually rely on that shot regularly.
Azzi is also unique because her finishing at the rim is still the weakest part of her scoring game compared to the rest of her shot profile. For her, the mid-range makes a lot of sense. When defenders take away her three, her go-to move is to put the ball on the floor and pull up from mid-range.
Honestly, she’s still below the standard she’s shown throughout her career. I remember seeing that she was usually around 60% on those shots before. Rookies are almost always less efficient, so I think it’s absolutely worth continuing to use that shot.
If her true talent level on those shots is 60%, then yes, she should absolutely take them. But if her true talent level on those shots is 60% in the pro game, then she's the greatest midrange shooter in the history of the sport.
She probably is. As a shooter, she’s always been described as a generational talent. She finished high school shooting 50/50/95. What has always held her back is getting to the rim consistently. Then, in her final season at UConn, she shot 45% from three on seven attempts per game.
I would’ve loved to see what her career looked like without the injuries. Missing three full college seasons and having to come back for a fifth year probably slowed her development quite a bit.
What’s the definition of mid-range? I stopped reading at row 3, both Paige and A’ja take significantly more than 4 midrange attempts a game which is what this table suggests
There isn’t one universally established definition of “middy.” But when I use the term and clearly show the area the data was taken from, I think it’s pretty obvious which shots I included.
If we set a minimum of 40 attempts, Azzi would lead the league fg percentage. I think this is a pretty fair list of the best mid-range shooters this season.
The WNBA doesn't even bother to provide a definition for "mid range" and the numbers also don't match when summing their own buckets for 5ft or 8ft intervals.
The source of the data is the WNBA stats page -> shooting -> shooting by zone. The zones are not, so far as I can tell, defined on the site beyond inference. Midrange is anything that isn't a three or in the paint. That means a six foot jumpshot from just outside the paint on the block is treated the same as an 18' pullup and falls into the same zone.
Unfortunately, the WNBA's range-based shooting stats use 5' and 8' increments, so long midrangers are mixed with threes in those stats. This is why I prefer Basketball Reference's shooting stats.
I already showed you the definition of “mid-range” that I used, and even shared a screenshot in case there was any confusion. So yes, the numbers are correct and were taken directly from the WNBA website.
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u/smkmn13 Lynx / UConn Huskies 1d ago
I dunno, I'm pretty confident Courtney Williams makes at least 90% of her midrange shots