LeBron James Says 'Common Fan' Is Wrong to Think Mid-Range Shots Are Gone from NBA

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James doesn't believe the mid-range is dead, as noted in a conversation with Basketball Hall of Famer Steve Nash on their Mind the Game podcast (2:40 mark).

"The common fan will say, there's no mid-range in the NBA anymore," James said in part. "It's just fast breaks, layups, threes, and free throws. But it's absolutely, absolutely not true."

On one end, it's clear that mid-range shots have taken a major step back to threes and dunks and layups.

Per Basketball-Reference, NBA teams took an average of 37.6 threes per game in 2024-25, marking the most in a season in league history. A total of 42.15 percent of field goals taken in the league were threes.

Team-by-team shot charts on StatMuse (the New York Knicks are here, for example) showcase how the vast majority of shots are taken from beyond the three-point line or at the basket.

Breaking it down by player, per Basketball-Reference, only one (the Phoenix Suns' Kevin Durant) took more than 30 percent of his shots from 10-16 feet. Only one player (the Sacramento Kings' DeMar DeRozan), took more than 16.3 percent of his shots from 16 feet to three-point range.

Those two plus the Milwaukee Bucks' Kevin Porter Jr. are the only players who take one-third or more of their shots from 10 feet to three-point range.

On the flip side, as James and Nash were noting, the mid-range is still a potent weapon, especially when teams are trying to take away threes or the paint.

Of note, Oklahoma City Thunder guard (and presumptive MVP Shai Gilgeous Alexander) is a phenomenal mid-range shooter. SGA notably had five mid-range jumpers (and only one three) en route to 31 points Tuesday in his team's 112-105 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.

The same goes for New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, whose made a habit of beating teams from there when needed. Brunson notably had a couple big 10-12 footers in the closing minutes of the third quarter Monday, when the Knicks beat the Boston Celtics 121-113 in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference Finals matchup.

So in closing, the mid-range isn't gone or forgotten. Sometimes, that's hard to remember, like when the Celtics took 60 three-pointers (and missed 45) in Game 1 of their series with the Knicks. But on other days, it's clearly still part of the game (albeit a smaller one) and used by some of the NBA's elite talents.