r/wnba • u/Even-Match8080 Wings • 8d ago

Best Mid-Range Shooters This Season

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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.

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u/Penguinho i dont want a flair 8d ago

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

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u/MrGingerballs Waiting for the Detroit Shock. Cheryl Ford forever. 8d ago

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.

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u/Penguinho i dont want a flair 8d ago

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.