Why Trey Murphy III Is the Sharpshooter Every NBA Team Needs
In today’s NBA, being a three-point shooter is no longer a bonus — it’s practically a necessity for guards and wings, and slowly becoming one for big men, too. These days, you could look at just the deep shooting stats of both teams and probably figure out the result of any single game without any other context. These past Finals were a great example of this methodology.
The Boston Celtics rolled through the Eastern Conference and easily downed the Dallas Mavericks for the championship by simply shooting better from beyond the arc. Against the Mavs, Boston failed to have a standout player, with both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown struggling on offense. But, through the strength of their depth, their defense, and, most importantly, their deep shooting, the Cs were able to cruise to a victory anyway.
Boston will be bringing the same philosophy next year in an attempt to repeat as champions. It’s now on the rest of the league to either try to solve a basically impossible math problem (how to beat 3s with 2s) or catch up to the Celtics battalion of snipers. Thankfully for the New Orleans Pelicans, they have at least one shooter capable of keeping pace with practically any other marksman in the league: Trey Murphy III.
Trey Murphy III is In Rare Company As a Shooter
Murphy III has been one of the top shooters in the league ever since he stepped foot in the NBA, but, somehow, he’s still a bit underrated in discussions comparing the best deep-range chuckers. To fully contextualize this, it’s important to make the distinction between the different types of snipers in the NBA.
There are two main categories: on-ball creators capable of pulling up on a whim off of the bounce, like Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, and Trae Young, and catch-and-shoot artists who thrive off of creating open looks for themselves off-ball, like Doug McDermott, Buddy Hield, and Duncan Robinson. Murphy III belongs in the latter group.
It’s impossible to argue that what TMIII brings to the table is better than what on-ball creators do, especially since most of them are star players who can also knock down open catch-and-shoot opportunities with ease. But, every team could use a shooter like Murphy, one who doesn’t need the ball in his hands constantly to establish a rhythm and can catch fire at any time even with a low usage rate.
Last season, Murphy knocked down 130 catch-and-shoot threes, which according to the Bettor in Green app places him at 28th in the league. It’s important to remember, though, that he only played in 57 games last year. That gives him a mark of 2.3 catch-and-shoot triples per game, good for sixth in the NBA, behind only Lauri Markkanen, Donte DiVincenzo, Klay Thompson, Luke Kennard, and Stephen Curry.
When he was wide-open, with the closest defender over six feet away, he hit over 39 percent of his triples. When he was open, with the defender between four and six feet away, he stroked 37 percent of his attempts. With a player within two-four feet, he hit nearly 43 percent. Not only is Murphy a high-volume sniper, being guarded hardly even affects his marksmanship.
Only 24 years old and entering his fourth year, Murphy has increased his three-point volume every season so far. He’s already established himself as one of the best shooters in the game, and he’s probably only going to get better.
