A great 3&D player may be the most valuable archetype in today’s NBA outside of your typical superstar player. There have been many great 3&D players even prior to today, and it got me wondering which of those players had the best individual 3&D season in league history.

Now, I didn’t really know how to go about figuring that out, but in my head, I didn’t think many players had made 1st team all defense while shooting at least 40% from 3 in the same season, so I figured I’d see how many players managed to accomplish that. The list is definitely not very long.

  • 2017 Chris Paul

  • 2016 Kawhi Leonard

  • 2013 LeBron James

  • 2005, 06, 08 Bruce Bowen

  • 2007 Raja Bell

  • 1996 Michael Jordan*

  • 1994 Hakeem Olajuwon*

  • 1989*, 90*, 92 Joe Dumars

  • 1984 Maurice Cheeks*

The asterisks are as follows: Michael Jordan in 1996, while obviously a tenacious defender, had the benefit of playing with a shortened 3 point line that year and had by far his best year from 3 as a result. The others (Hakeem, 1989-90 Dumars, and Mo Cheeks) did not attempt enough 3s to truly qualify.

So, if you remove the asterisks, that leaves just 6 players in NBA history that have made 1st team all defense and shot 40+% from 3 in the same season. Bruce Bowen is the only player to accomplish this multiple times. However, the crown of best individual 3&D season has to go to 2016 Kawhi Leonard and it really isn’t close. Out of all the players listed, he had the highest 3 point % at 44%, and he’s the only qualifying player to not just make 1st team all defense, but win the DPOY award in the same year. Just goes to show how dominant a healthy Kawhi really is.

Other mentions can obviously go to players that made 2nd team all defense, like Klay Thompson. Also, shout out Raja Bell, he definitely gets lost in the shuffle when talking about the 7SOL Phoenix Suns.