Could the Warriors put up more 3-pointers without Klay Thompson?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Against the Kings in Golden 1 Center, the Warriors made 28 3-pointers — one more than their regular-season franchise record and one shy of the all-time NBA record.

Buddy Hield went 6-for-7 from deep. Jonathan Kuminga and De’Anthony Melton each canned four. Steph Curry made a trio of 3s in his 16 minutes. Eight Warriors hit multiple triples and the only players who stepped on the court and didn’t hit a trey were Kevon Looney, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Quinten Post, Gary Payton II and Pat Spencer.

It’s just one game, and a preseason one at that, but the 3-point barrage is exactly what Steve Kerr has in mind.

“Yeah, because I think almost all of them were good shots,” Kerr said. “We’re obviously not going to make 28 very often, but everybody was knocking them down. They were in-flow shots. We had 34 assists, so the ball was moving.”

In the 122-112 victory over Sacramento, the Warriors went 28-for-52 from 3-point land. Well over half their shots came from behind the arc, and they shot better from there than they did overall. In two preseason games, the Warriors have attempted exactly 100 3-pointers — 56% of their shots and more than a 3-pointer per minute.

It seems like an oxymoron to lose Klay Thompson — arguably the second-greatest shooter in NBA history — and attempt more 3s per game. But that’s what the Warriors are looking at.

In an effort to play with more pace and introduce more variance into games, Golden State has emphasized taking more 3s all offseason. Bringing in a free agent marksman like Hield (and Melton, a willing shooter) and empowering players like Brandin Podziemski and Kuminga to let it fly could juice their numbers.

Last season, the Boston Celtics led the NBA with 42.5 3-point attempts per game. The Warriors weren’t far behind, at fourth (38.3 per game).

As Podziemski noted, the top two teams in the league in 3-point volume ended up in the Finals. He thinks it’s a “great possibility” that the Warriors could get there — or at the very least stay in the top-five.

“I feel like it’s a little bit different in the fact that we have more guys that can shoot the 3 besides just Klay and Steph,” Podziemski said.

Many of the open 3-pointers on Wednesday night came off Podziemski drive-and-kicks. In successive possessions, he found Kuminga and Moses Moody along the arc for triples as Sacramento’s help defense closed in on the paint.

Others came off set plays designed by Terry Stotts, the new assistant coach. The Warriors’ system is similar to the one Stotts ran in Portland, but there are actions that can blend with the way Golden State plays to free shooters even more.

“Ball movement,” Podziemski said. “A lot of them came off an extra pass. When you feel that and the ball’s moving around, it just feels like everyone’s in rhythm because you’re touching it. Even if they’re not shooting it, they get to touch the ball.”

Hield, who hit his first six 3s, said his shot feels just “alright.” He’s a career 40% sharpshooter and has hit the most 3s in the NBA in the past five seasons — even more than Curry.

Kuminga’s a different story. He’s been a below average 3-point shooter in his three-year career and isn’t yet capable of taking off-the-bounce 3s or tough ones off movement. But when his feet are set, he can hit open looks. He’ll need to, especially as a small forward in lineups with Draymond Green and Jackson-Davis, and he worked on the stroke all summer.

“We spoke about it with coach,” Kuminga said. “As long as the look’s clean, the ball moves, the open ones – just take it. Don’t hesitate.”

Last season, when Golden State ranked fourth in 3-point attempts, Thompson took nine per game. The Warriors seem confident they’ll be able to redistribute those attempts throughout a deeper, rangier roster.

By no means are the Warriors reinventing the wheel by upping their 3-point volume. The 3-point revolution in the sport has been ongoing for nearly two decades now. Kerr traces it back to Mike D’Antoni’s Suns teams with Steve Nash. James Harden’s Rockets teams continued the trend. So did the Splash Bros Warriors, of course. Boston rode unprecedented spacing to the 2024 championship.

The math is the math: three is more than two. And especially for a team like the Warriors, who have the greatest shooter ever and don’t get to the free-throw line often, the 3 ball has to be the equalizer.

“It’d be hard for us to win a lot of games unless we shoot high volume 3s,” Kerr said. “What I like about this team is even though we’ve lost Klay, we have more shooting depth. We have more guys who can step in from one night to the next and hits 3s. So it’ll be a big part of our team, for sure.”