The 50-40-90 club celebrates players who pass the minimum threshold of 300 fields, 82 three-pointers, and 125 free throws on 50/40/90 percentage splits for a season. Only nine NBA players have achieved the feat and Kevin Durant was the latest one to do it during the 2022-23 season.
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Kawhi Leonard, who is one of the most efficient players in the league, has never achieved an entry to the 50/40/90 club thus far. He got close during the 2022-23 season but has never been closer till the current 2023-24 season.
3-point stats this season
In the 51 games thus far, Kawhi Leonard has nailed 114 three-pointers, making 2.2 out of 5.1 attempts per game on an impressive 44.2% shooting. It puts him just 11 triples away from the 125 three-pointers threshold. He has nailed a season-high six three-pointers twice during the season, against the Detroit Pistons and the Utah Jazz.
Leonard has achieved 100% shooting from the downtown twice. He made five out of five triples against Portland during October last year. Meanwhile, he also clicked on both of his attempts from deep against the Warriors in November. This is the fourth season in his career where he has tallied two made three-pointers per game.
Efficiency-wise, from the deep, the 2023-24 season has been his best by far. In the 2022-23 season, he crossed the 40% shooting for the first time in his career, making 2 out of 4.8 attempts from deep for 41.6% shooting.
What does Kawhi need to enter the 50-40-90 club?
Ever since the NBA introduced the three-point line in the 1979-80 season, only nine players have made it to the 50/40/90 club. Larry Bird was the first one to do it in the 1986-87 season and repeated the feat in the next season. Mark Price followed suit during the 1988-89 season and then Reggie Miller did it during the 1993-94 season.
After a decade-long pause, it was Steve Nash who lit up the club. He first made it during the 2005-06 season and missed the club during the 2006-07 season because of a missed free throw, which limited his free-throw percentage to 89.9%. However, his former teammate Dirk Nowitzki did make it to the club in the 2006-07 season and remains the sole 7-footer in the 50/40/90 club. Nash then achieved this thrice in a row and with four appearances, leads everyone in the club.
Kevin Durant accomplished the feat in the 2012-13 season. Meanwhile, in the 2015-16 season, Stephen Curry became the first member of the club to register 30.1 points per game and lead the league in scoring at the same time. Then in the 2018-19 season, Milwaukee Bucks’ Malcolm Brogdon attained the 50/40/90 club honors.
During the 2020-21 season, Kyrie Irving also registered himself in the prestigious company. Meanwhile, during the 2022-23 season, Kevin Durant became the last player to enter the 55/40/90 club courtesy of his 56% shooting from the field.
As for the 2023-24 season, Leonard is shooting a career-high 52.8% from the field, 44.2% from the three-point line, and 89.2% from the free-throw line. He has already hit the field goals threshold by making 458 shots and it is unlikely that his field goal percentage will sink below 50%. He is also comfortably above the 40% shooting from the three-point line.
However, with 3.7 out of 4.2 free-throw makes per game, he remains 0.8% away from the 90% mark. However, if he just increases his makes by a percentage point, he can make the well-heralded club. Considering the current trajectory, it won’t be a surprise if he makes the club.
