The 2020-21 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season was like none before with eight players claiming membership in the 50-40-90 club.
Eight players shot 50-40-90 in 2020-21
Stats
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The 50-40-90 club is an exclusive one with membership reserved only for the best shooters in the game. To be able to count oneself in, a player must shoot at least 50% on two-point shots, 40% on three-pointers and 90% on free throws. To put that in perspective, the league average this season was 53.6% on twos, 37.8% on threes and 79.4% on free throws.
Joining the club is traditionally quite tough since so few big men shoot well enough from downtown to qualify, so few perimeter players shoot as well on their twos and among the remaining elite who meet those criteria, there were only 20 players who made 90% of their free throws this season! However, the 2020-21 season was like no season before with eight players claiming membership in the 50-40-90 club.
Alec Peters of TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Real Madrid duo of Jaycee Carroll and Trey Thompkins, Valencia Basket swingman Klemen Prepelic, Kyle Kuric of FC Barcelona, Marius Grigonis of Zalgiris Kaunas, Nando de Colo of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Rodrigue Beaubois of Anadolu Efes Istanbul made history with their fantastic shooting.
Most of the aforementioned players easily passed the 50-40-90 marks. Six of them made at least 55% of their two-pointers, including the Real pair, which each made 60% of their twos. Four of them shot better than 44% on threes, including Kuric, who led the league at 56.2%. Kuric also led the league in free throw accuracy, with Thompkins second, Grigonis third, Carroll, fourth and De Colo sixth.
De Colo's presence in the 50-40-club should be of little surprise. It was the seventh time he has had such a season among his eight in the EuroLeague. In fact, not only is he 50-40-90 for his career (54.3-42.7-94.0), but his career field-goal shooting percentage is also above 50 (50.3%).
Only five players have ever recorded multiple 50-40-90 seasons before and only two have ever done so with different teams. Sarunas Jasikevicius had his first with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2003-40 and his second with Panathinaikos Athens four years later. De Colo has done so with CSKA Moscow and Fenerbahce. This season, Carroll joined De Colo as the only two players to ever have at least three 50-40-90 seasons.
The players mentioned here and their shooting numbers shine a bright light both on the elite shooting EuroLeague stars have given fans over the years and their historic efforts in 2020-21.