“Wilt Chamberlain made 20 out of 25 free throws from half-court”: Basketball historian reminisces over the Lakers giant pioneering shooting from range

Wilt Chamberlain once hit 20 of 25 ‘free throw’ shots from the half-court mark according to a basketball historian with ease. 

The more that us NBA fans are removed from the Wilt Chamberlain era of basketball, the more his feats get mythologized. It seems almost impossible that a man dropped 70+ points on 6 separate occasions and continually grabbed rebounds upwards of 30 a game and yet, ‘Wilt the Stilt’ did just that on a nightly basis. 

Wilt Chamberlain had everything anyone needed to be great at basketball; a perfect concoction of skill and physical ability. Wilt could do everything from touch the top of the backboard to run a 100-yard dash in just over 10 seconds. These are all skills he utilized in running the floor and soaring over defenders for posters on the regular.

Also read: “Kobe Bryant’s grandmother really rejected Wilt Chamberlain for prom”: When the Lakers legend revealed his grandmother studied with ‘The Big Dipper’

While most believe all Chamberlain did was run and dunk, this could not be further from the truth. He was one of the first to perfect the fadeaway shot, draining 12 foot leaners with ease. He was also a pioneer of banking in his shots from the left elbow, a shot guys like Tim Duncan and Russell Westbrook perfected. 

Wilt Chamberlain took to the half-court line to drain a bevy of shots. 

The video of Wilt Chamberlain draining 4 straight hook shots from 3-point range while betting against Elgin Baylor is one that a slew of NBA fans have seen. What they haven’t seen or heard about is the time Chamberlain took to the half-court mark to show off his suppressed shooting prowess.

Also read: “The center position is suffering, they have lousy centers in the NBA”: Wilt Chamberlain didn’t mince his words in 1987 when talking about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and company

According to an unnamed basketball historian in the video below, he claims that Wilt Chamberlain made 20 of 25 free throws from the half-court line. That would make ‘The Big Dipper’ a half-court shot maker at an 80% clip.

Coming back to the part of Wilt having become mythologized to a certain extent, this may be a by-product of that. There is no film of this happening and if there is, it is perhaps stowed away in physical archives in some storage room that perhaps only a handful of people in the world have access to. 

Discussing whether this is true or not is a testament to how high of a regard us NBA fans hold Wilt Chamberlain to.