Stranger Stats #3: He Shot 0/17 In an NBA Game, and 30 Years Later His Son Shot 0/12?
While watching Lakers vs. Bucks on the night of January 15, 2026, I witnessed two rough shooting lines unfold in real time: Kevin Porter Jr. went 0-for-8 for the Bucks, and Gabe Vincent finished 0-for-7 for the Lakers. Tough nights, no doubt.
But have you wondered who in the past has an even worse shooting performance? Let StrangerStats take you on a journey to uncover some of the worst “0/X field goal attempts” games ever recorded.
1) Most field-goal attempts without a field goal
There are bad shooting nights… and then there are nights where you miss so many shots that it becomes a trivia question. The title for most field goal attempts without a single bucket belongs to Tim Hardaway Sr.. In 1991 he shot 0 for 17 in their win against the Timberwolves, and the record has stood for 35 years (and counting…).
It was quite amazing that the Warriors were able to stil come away with a W! Despite his horrible shooting performance, Tim Hardaway Sr. dished out 13 assists and chipped in for the victory. His hall-of-fame teammate Chris Mullin did the heavy lifting. He shot 15 for 24 and scored 36 points, and covered for Hardaway’s historically cold night.
Full box score on Basketball-Reference
The uncanny part is that 3 decades later, his son Tim Hardaway Jr. authored his own entry into this odd family trivia, shooting 0-for-12 from the field!! However, his team wasn’t so lucky, as they got blown out by the Toronto Raptors. Full box score on Basketball-Reference
2) Some all-time greats’ 0-for-X games
When we think shooting “0-for-X,” we imagine role players having a panic-game. Start players have much more usage, more touches, and a better chance to play themselves into their rhythm. However there are times they just can’t get right. Here are some 0 field goal games from star players:
3) Most points scored with 0 made field goals
This is where things get weird.
How do you score a lot of points without making a single shot from the field?
Answer: free throws, and lots of them.
There you have it, one of the most weird games I found. Darrick Martin, who on this night could not make a single shot from the field (0/8 in FG), nailed all his free throws (15/15 in FT), making him the highest scorer without a single field goal bucket.
4) The true nightmare: 0-for-X FG and 0-for-Y FT
Missing every field goal is bad.
Missing every free throw too? That’s “turn off the phone for 48 hours” bad.
It turns out Joel Embiid and Kyrie Irving can trauma-bond over this experience, as both of them had a brutal night like this early in their respective careers.
