Top 5 Shots in Basketball History

How We Got Here…

Last week, ESPN’s “Mad-Dog” featured a segment on “First Take” where he presented his so-called “A-List” of the top 5 shots in basketball history. For the sake of controversy, Mad-Dog only included 1 of my top 5 shots in his rankings. His list primarily consisted of shots from the early stages of basketball itself—kidding, but seriously, the 1960s and 70s.

In my latest YouTube video, I mentioned that Gordon Hayward’s half-court miss from the National Championship game could have been ranked higher than some of the shots he picked.

This inspired me to create my own list of the best basketball shots in history. When it comes to making the list, if a shot doesn’t immediately come to mind, it doesn’t belong on it.

So, without further ado, here are some honorable mentions: MJ’s “The Shot,” which has an iconic name but was only a first-round game winner, Gordon Haywards National Championship misses, Christian Laettner’s buzzer beater, Reggie Miller 8 points in 9 seconds, and Steph Curry’s Olympic heroics in 2024.

My Top 5 Shots in Basketball History

#5 | Cardiac Kemba

Kemba Walker delivered one of the nastiest step-back jumpers we’ve ever seen, which, to my memory, kick-started the social media era of insane basketball shot coverage. This step-back was an iconic moment.

#4 | Slow and Steady Wins the Race

In typical Kawhi Leonard fashion, nothing about this Game 7 buzzer-beater was normal. The ball bounced off the rim four times before finally going in, sending the Toronto Raptors to the NBA Finals and eventually to their first-ever NBA championship.

#3 | Every Kid’s Dream

On the NCAA’s biggest stage, the National Championship game, Kris Jenkins hit a buzzer-beater to give Villanova their second title in school history. A classic at-the-buzzer shot to win the National Championship— it doesn’t get much better than that.

#2 | Saved in South Beach

Ray Allen is regarded as one of the best three-point shooters in NBA history for a reason, and he proved it with this game-tying shot that saved the Heat’s chances of winning the NBA title. Although Allen had a wide-open LeBron James, he instead made one of the best corner threes we’ve ever seen.

#1 | For NBA History

No team had ever come back from down 3-1 in NBA Finals history until Kyrie Irving hit the decisive shot on Steph Curry to take the lead in Game 7. The courage to take this shot against a team that had lost only 9 games in the regular season that year led to Cleveland’s first-ever NBA title.

What shots could possibly be better than these when considering all factors? Do you agree with this list or Mad-Dog’s top 5 list of the best basketball shots of all time?

Check out the latest YouTube video to watch the shots and see the full list. 🔽