The 8 Worst NBA Free Throw Shooters of the Last Decade
Free throws are a generally routine part of basketball, but those shots are occasionally anything but easy.
Yes, for some players—Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, to name a few—it's basically a layup. On the other hand, a trip to the charity stripe can practically be a wish and a prayer.
Gone are the days of Hack-a-Shaq in the NBA, thankfully. Rule changes have minimized the use of that strategy. Still, several of the league's worst free-throw shooters in the last decade made a ton of trips to the line before 2016 because of their struggles and that loophole.
The percentages are taken from the 2013-14 season through 2022-23 with a minimum of 1,000 free-throw attempts.
Ben Simmons
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The first overall pick of the 2016 NBA draft, Ben Simmons is among the more fascinating players in recent history.
Simmons established himself as an elite defender with the Philadelphia 76ers while showing off terrific vision and passing ability. He also regularly contributed as a rebounder, picking up plenty of triple-doubles.
But he's simply had no range.
At the free-throw line, Simmons made only 59.1 percent of his 1,411 attempts through 2022-23. In that season specifically—albeit in a small sample—he connected on just 43.9 percent.
While his overall skill set atones for this particular issue, Simmons has never shot better than 62.1 percent in any season.
Mason Plumlee
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Mason Plumlee has carved out a quality career that has taken him to six organizations during his decade as a pro.
Along the way, Plumlee's free-throw percentages have varied wildly. He shot 62.6 percent as a rookie, then dropped to a 49.5 clip in his second year. Plumlee finished with a career-best 66.9 clip in 2020-21 and proceeded to collapse down to 39.2 in the following season.
So, he made a drastic change. In 2022-23, Plumlee switched from his preferred right hand to shoot free throws left-handed.
Anything to help a career 56.7 free-throw mark, you know? Given that he shot 63.6 percent for the season, it worked, too.
Bismack Biyombo
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Offense has never been a strength for Bismack Biyombo in the NBA. Entering the 2023-24 season, he'd tallied a modest 5.1 points per game while averaging 19.5 minutes across his previous 12 years.
As with several others on the list, his range is very limited. Nearly 90 percent of his career attempts are within 10 feet.
That certainly explains his 56.7 free-throw rate in the last decade.
Biyombo isn't often at the stripe anyway, but his teams will gladly focus on his rebounding and defense.
Dwight Howard
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Although his record technically falls outside of our criteria, it would be a disservice to not mention Dwight Howard's spot in history.
Yes, it's an inglorious one.
When rules allowed the Hack-a-Howard approach, he twice attempted 39 free throws in a game. That broke the previous mark of 36 that Will Chamberlain set—and also matched on his 100-point night—in 1962.
Obviously, there was a reason for it. Amid a career with a 56.7 free-throw clip, Howard shot 54.5 percent in our timeline.
Howard also amassed eight All-NBA selections and three Defensive Player of the Year honors. That part is more important.
Steven Adams
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Throughout his time on the Oklahoma City Thunder, Steven Adams developed into a menace on the offensive glass. He created second-chance opportunities at impressive rates for a half-decade.
That strength has continued with the Memphis Grizzlies, although a knee injury will sideline him in 2023-24.
But, I know, we're talking about free throws.
Adams has a 53.6 career rate, and he recently completed his worst season. The veteran center made a ghastly 36.4 percent of his shots at the charity stripe in 2022-23.
Unfortunately for Adams, the unexpected (and literal) gut-punches from former OKC assistant coach Darko Rajaković didn't work out.
Clint Capela
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Clint Capela rose to prominence as a high-efficiency shooter and rebounding machine. He made an NBA-best 65.2 percent of his field-goal attempts in 2017-18 on the Houston Rockets and paced the league with 14.3 boards per game in 2020-21 for the Atlanta Hawks.
As always, the point is reminding you of a player's value before pointing out a substantial weakness. He's been a quality contributor.
Capela, though, has converted just 53.5 percent of his freebies with a 37.9 clip—the lowest of his career when a regular—in 2015-16. On the bright side, he finished with a 60.3 mark last season.
No player included here has fewer career attempts beyond 10 feet than Capela, who's taken 98.8 percent of his shots inside that distance.
DeAndre Jordan
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As if a 49.1 free-throw percentage in our criteria isn't bad enough, DeAndre Jordan had a miserable start to his career.
Before our timeline begins in 2013-14, he'd played five years on the Los Angeles Clippers. Jordan's best season mark was a middling 52.5 clip, and he ended below 40 in three of those years. He never topped 50 percent in the first five years of the last decade, either.
For a two-year period, however, things changed in a dramatic and positive way. Jordan revamped his routine, then shot 70.5 percent in 2018-19 and 68.0 percent the next season.
It's a fascinating story, really.
Jordan's effectiveness has since dipped, though, and those bad stretches outweighed the good down to a 49.1 mark.
Andre Drummond
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Nobody has confused Andre Drummond with an elite free-throw shooter, but his personal growth is notable.
In the first five seasons of his career, he mustered a 38.1 percentage—with a 38.2 clip within our timeline. Drummond even set an NBA record with 23 misses in a January 2016 game.
Over the next six years, though, he improved significantly at the stripe and made 58.1 percent.
The fascinating juxtaposition is that, within the last decade, Drummond averaged an NBA-best 13.1 rebounds per game and recorded the league's worst free-throw clip at 48.0 percent.
