The Whiteboard: These Warriors could be the best 3-point shooting team ever

It's hard to imagine a team losing one of the five best shooters of all time, like Klay Thompson, and actually becoming a better 3-point shooting team. But that's an entirely plausible outcome for the 2024-25 Golden State Warriors. In fact, it's easy to imagine them solidifying themselves as one of the greatest 3-point shooting teams ever, challenging a slew of records along the way.

The Warriors made 28 3s on Wednesday night in a preseason win over the Sacramento Kings, one short of the regular-season record. Ten different Warriors made at least one 3-pointer in the game, and eight made at least two — Buddy Hield (6), Jonathan Kuminga (4), De'Anthony Melton (4), Steph Curry (3), Lindy Waters (3), Draymond Green (2), Brandin Podziemski (2) and Moses Moody (2).

Curry is, inarguably, the greatest shooter in NBA history and any pursuit of history relies on him being healthy for the bulk of the season. But it's the depth of shooting on this team that really sets it apart.

Buddy Hield is a career 40 percent shooter from beyond the arc and since he entered the league in 2016-17, Curry is the only player who has made more 3s. He has unlimited range, is equally comfortable working off the ball or pulling-up and has sustained his excellence across multiple teams, coaches and systems. He's, arguably, the second-best shooter in the NBA right now and could put up phenomenal numbers next to Curry. At this point, he might not just be a replacement for Thompson, he could be an upgrade.

The Warriors also signed De'Anthony Melton this offseason, who has hit 38.3 percent of 1200 attempts over the past four seasons. Rounding out the primary backcourt rotation is Brandin Podziemski who hit 38.5 percent of his 3s as a rookie, after shooting 43.8 percent in his final college season. Any combination of those four players in the backcourt — and the Warriors will mix-and-match plenty, in addition to running out three-guard sets — will feature four terrific outside shooters.

Andrew Wiggins' percentages cratered last season but he hit 38.9 percent of his 3s across his first three full seasons in Golden State. Moses Moody has hit 36.2 percent of his 3s across his first three seasons but could have untapped upside there. Jonathan Kuminga's percentages have been all over the map in his three seasons, but he's at 34.1 percent for his career and is 4-of-9 so far in the preseason. Draymond Green and Kyle Anderson are both wild cards, percentage-wise, but they'll at least take and make some 3s.

Going back to 2013-14, just seven teammates of Curry and Thompson have made 100 or more 3s in a season for the Warriors — Jordan Poole (twice), Kevin Durant (three times), Andrew Wiggins (twice), Draymond Green (twice), Donte DiVincenzo, Nick Young and D'Angelo Russell. In those 12 total seasons, the teammate also shot 38 percent or better on 3s just five times — Durant in 2017-18, Green in 2015-16, DiVincenzo in 2022-23 and Wiggins in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

All that is to say, on paper, this roster looks like an outlier, even for the outlier Warriors, in terms of the number of capable and willing 3-point shooters.

The 2022-23 Warriors made the most 3-pointers in NBA history, 1363, a mark the Celtics challenged last season, ultimately coming up 12 3s short. Only two other teams — Boston in 2022-23 and Houston in 2018-19 — have ever made 1300 or more 3s in a season Boston will certainly be on a similar trajectory against this year but Golden State certainly has better 3-point shooters as it's primary offensive weapons and it's depth of shooting is arguably just as strong. The all-time record for made 3-pointers in a season is firmly within reach, as is 41.6 percent — the record for best team 3-point percentage in a season.

It might not be enough to catapult them back into contention and injuries and mid-season trades have the potential to shake things up. But right now, this Warriors' roster is set up to make history.

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NBA news roundup:

• One of the greatest role players in history is hanging them up. Danny Green officially announced his retirement this week after a 15-year career that saw him win titles with three different teams — the Spurs, Raptors and Lakers. Green was a second-round pick but carved out a niche for himself as a premier 3-and-D wing, locking up opposing scorers and making exactly 40 percent of his career 3-pointers.

• LaMelo Ball appears to be all the way back, averaging 35.7 points, 9.4 assists and 8.5 rebounds per 36 minutes and hitting 45.5 percent of his 3s across two preseason games for the Hornets.

• The Knicks are still putting the finishing touches on their roster after the Karl-Anthony Towns trade. They're not ruling out a trade later in the season, especially once Mitchell Robinson returns, but for now, it appears veteran Landry Shamet and a rookie on a minimum contract will take the final two roster spots.

The Utah Jazz might be frisky

Take your preseason results with a heavy grain of salt, but the Utah Jazz are 3-0, outscoring opponents by an average of 13.7 points per 100 possessions. Those opponents were the New Zealand Breakers, the Rockets and the Mavericks without Luka Doncic, but still they've looked friskier than expected.

This is an extremely young team around Lauri Markkanen, with Collin Sexon, John Collins and Jordan Clarkson likely to be the only other players 25-or-older in the regular rotation. But Keyonte George has been shooting lights out, Walker Kessler looks like he could be a real defensive anchor this season and last year's other first-round pick, Taylor Hendricks could be an actual rotation piece this season.

With Johnny Juzang, Isaiah Collier, Cody Williams and Brice Sensabaugh filling out the rest of the rotation as upside pieces ready to pop, Utah could be more of a challenge than we may have projected. Fighting for a play-in spot may be too big an ask right now but they're way ahead of Portland and should keep things interesting in the Western Conference standings from top to bottom.