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Tracy McGrady Selects His Top 5 Shooters Of All Time; Excludes Ray Allen And Larry Bird
Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Tracy McGrady has raised eyebrows by sharing his list of the five greatest shooters in NBA history. While it is inevitable that when someone shares a list like this, a big name gets snubbed, McGrady surprisingly left out two of them, Ray Allen and Larry Bird.

"Right off the bat, I got Steph (Curry) of course," McGrady said. "Klay (Thompson) of course. Mark Price of course. Craig Hodges of course. And last but not least, gotta go Reggie Miller."

I think you could make a case for Bird not being one of the five best shooters ever, but how on earth did McGrady leave off Allen? We have seen such lists being shared over the years and this might be the first time I've seen someone exclude him.

Allen was the NBA's all-time leader for threes made with 2,973 before Stephen Curry passed him in 2021. He also shot 40.0% from three for his career and is undoubtedly one of the five greatest shooters ever. Curry even picked Allen as the greatest shooter in NBA history besides himself. 

McGrady is entitled to his opinion, of course, but if I had to make changes here, I would remove Craig Hodges and Mark Price. That's not to say they weren't great shooters.

Hodges won the three-point contest three times, which is tied for the most with Bird, and shot 40.0% from beyond the arc. As for Price, he shot 40.2% from three for his career and won the three-point contest twice. They were great long-range snipers, but not good enough to be top five all-time.

Allen would take one of those spots and, for me, he, Curry, Reggie Miller, and Klay Thompson are locks when it comes to a top-five list of shooters. As for the fifth and final spot, well that's a difficult choice.

Bird would certainly be in contention, along with Damian Lillard and maybe even James Harden. If I had to make a pick, I would go with Lillard purely because of his range.

NBA Fans Reacted To Tracy McGrady's List

I was glad to see that NBA fans agreed with me on Allen having to be there, as they couldn't believe it either that McGrady left him off.

One thought it was insane that Allen was left out, "No Ray is insane bro."

A fan said Allen is the second-greatest shooter, "Where's Ray Allen? Ray is the 2nd greatest of all time."

One said McGrady had to be drunk, "T-Mac's First Take Drunk Edition."

A fan said Allen and Lillard have to be in the top five, "So Ray Allen and Dame Dolla are not top 5 shooters ever? Stop it."

One thought McGrady was being disrespectful here, "Wow!!! Craig Hodges over Ray Allen that’s way disrespectful TMac."

A fan felt that McGrady must have some beef with Allen, "My boy must have some type of unspoken beef with Ray Allen."

I have never really heard of any sort of beef between them. In fact, McGrady has spoken glowingly of Allen in the past. To go from that to leaving him off the top five was rather odd. Maybe McGrady somehow forgot about Allen when this video was made, but that seems rather improbable, too.

This article first appeared on Fadeaway World and was syndicated with permission.

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