Cover photo: NBA.com
I’ve been watching AJ Dybantsa’s summer league games, and I have complicated feelings.
The kid is special. The athleticism jumps off the screen, the tools are all there, and you can see exactly why everyone’s been hyping him as a franchise-changer. Genuinely exciting to watch a prospect like that get his first real run.
And then he does the thing. He drives, throws his arms up, snaps his head back like he just got shot, and looks straight at the ref. Over and over. He’s 19 and he’s already got the flop-and-sell routine down to muscle memory.
I get it. He watched the last ten years of NBA basketball and figured out where the game is going. Draw the foul, get to the line, let the refs put points on the board for you. It’s smart. It’s the meta. But man, it is frustrating to watch. Foul baiting, the exaggerated simulation, the head snap. It’s the part of modern basketball I like the least, and now the No. 1 prospect in the country is doing it before he’s even played an NBA minute.
Which got me thinking about the guy who turned this into an entire identity. The patron saint of getting carried by the refs.
James Harden. On December 26, 2013, he scored 27 points on 2 made field goals.
So how far does this go? If you make zero shots, or one, or two, what’s the most points anyone has ever scored? And who lived at the line for a whole season?
The Ceiling
I went through every regular season and playoff box score since 1946 and found the record for each number of made shots:
- 0 makes: 15 points
- 1 make: 22 points
- 2 makes: 27 points
- 3 makes: 27 points
0 Makes: Darrick Martin
Darrick Martin
15 PTS · 0-for-8 FG · 15-for-15 FT
Regular Season · 15 of 15 points from the line
- MIN 32
- 3P 0/1
- +/- +20
0-for-8 from the field, 15-for-15 from the line. A perfect night at the line for the Clippers guard, without a single basket.
Right behind him is Richard Hamilton with 14 points on 0-for-10 in 2005, one season after the Pistons won the title. Rip ran through a lot of screens that night for nothing.
1 Make: Nate Archibald
Nate Archibald
22 PTS · 1-for-9 FG · 20-for-22 FT
Regular Season · 20 of 22 points from the line
- MIN 37
22 points on one basket. Tiny Archibald went 20-for-22 at the line and the Celtics beat the Bulls. That’s also the highest share of points from free throws (91%) of any 20-point game in the data.
Kevin Martin is next with 20, and his one make was a three.
2 Makes: James Harden
James Harden
27 PTS · 2-for-9 FG · 22-for-25 FT
Regular Season · 22 of 27 points from the line
- MIN 43
- 3P 1/5
- +/- +13
The patron saint delivers. 22-for-25 from the line, a Rockets win, and Harden was +13.
Charles Barkley almost got there first. In 1995 he scored 26 on 2-for-16 in 47 minutes. Fourteen misses, still 26 points.
3 Makes: Dirk and CP3
Dirk Nowitzki
27 PTS · 3-for-9 FG · 21-for-24 FT
Playoffs · 21 of 27 points from the line
- MIN 43
- +/- +3
Chris Paul
27 PTS · 3-for-9 FG · 19-for-20 FT
Regular Season · 19 of 27 points from the line
- MIN 33
- 3P 2/2
- +/- +2
Two players tied at 27. Dirk did his in the 2006 playoffs against the Spurs, and the Mavs went on to the Finals that year. Chris Paul’s is the only game among these five record holders that his team lost.
Here are all 20 games with 23+ points on 3 or fewer makes:
All 20 games with 23+ points on 3 or fewer made shots
| Player | PTS | FG | FT | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 James Harden | 27 | 2/9 | 22/25 | Dec 26, 2013 |
 Dirk Nowitzki | 27 | 3/9 | 21/24 | May 13, 2006 |
 Chris Paul | 27 | 3/9 | 19/20 | Nov 3, 2012 |
 Charles Barkley | 26 | 2/16 | 22/27 | Dec 20, 1995 |
| Corey Maggette | 25 | 3/9 | 19/20 | Feb 26, 2007 |
| Larry McNeill | 24 | 3/13 | 18/19 | Mar 29, 1978 |
 Adrian Dantley | 24 | 3/8 | 18/20 | Nov 7, 1986 |
| Amar'e Stoudemire | 24 | 3/8 | 18/20 | Nov 8, 2008 |
 Kawhi Leonard | 24 | 3/11 | 16/17 | Feb 5, 2019 |
 Ken Sears | 23 | 3/8 | 17/18 | Nov 3, 1956 |
| Paul Silas | 23 | 3/11 | 17/17 | Jan 10, 1971 |
| Adrian Dantley | 23 | 3/10 | 17/19 | Mar 6, 1987 |
 A.C. Green | 23 | 3/13 | 17/21 | Feb 16, 1989 |
 Gilbert Arenas | 23 | 3/14 | 17/20 | Jan 21, 2005 |
 Paul George | 23 | 3/13 | 17/18 | Apr 21, 2013 |
 Jimmy Butler | 23 | 3/14 | 17/21 | Dec 8, 2019 |
| Kevin Johnson | 23 | 3/9 | 16/16 | Nov 4, 1997 |
 Derek Anderson | 23 | 3/6 | 16/16 | Dec 21, 1997 |
 Sean Kilpatrick | 23 | 3/6 | 16/17 | Mar 6, 2017 |
| Corey Maggette | 23 | 3/15 | 14/18 | Mar 31, 2008 |
The Regulars
Scoring 20+ on 3 or fewer makes has happened 126 times, by 93 different players. Eight of them did it at least three times.
Most 20-point games on 3 or fewer made shots
| Player | Games | Best | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corey Maggette | 5 | 25 | 2003–12 |
 Kevin Martin | 5 | 22 | 2007–14 |
| James Harden | 4 | 27 | 2013–20 |
| Adrian Dantley | 3 | 24 | 1986–89 |
| Jimmy Butler | 3 | 23 | 2019 |
 Paul Pierce | 3 | 22 | 2005–12 |
 Dolph Schayes | 3 | 21 | 1954–57 |
 Danilo Gallinari | 3 | 21 | 2011–17 |
Corey Maggette and Kevin Martin lead with 5 each, and Harden has 4. One of Maggette’s was 23 points where all three of his makes were threes.
Jimmy Butler has 3. Hold that thought.
Whole Seasons at the Line
One game can be a fluke. So I also added up every regular season since 1979-80 and ranked the ones where free throws made up the biggest share of a player’s points (1,000+ points to qualify).
Highest share of points from free throws, 1,000-point seasons
| # | Player | From FT | Season | PTS | FTM | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cedric Maxwell | 41.6% | 1985-86 | 1,075 | 447 | 14.1 |
| 2 | Corey Maggette | 41.0% | 2006-07 | 1,266 | 519 | 16.9 |
| 3 | Corey Maggette | 38.5% | 2004-05 | 1,464 | 563 | 22.2 |
| 4 | Moses Malone | 38.0% | 1984-85 | 1,941 | 737 | 24.6 |
| 5 | Jimmy Butler | 37.9% | 2019-20 | 1,157 | 438 | 19.9 |
| 6 | Kevin Martin | 36.4% | 2008-09 | 1,254 | 457 | 24.6 |
| 7 |  Micheal Williams | 36.4% | 1992-93 | 1,151 | 419 | 15.1 |
| 8 | Danilo Gallinari | 36.2% | 2015-16 | 1,036 | 375 | 19.5 |
| 9 | Dan Schayes | 36.0% | 1987-88 | 1,129 | 407 | 13.9 |
| 10 | Corey Maggette | 35.7% | 2007-08 | 1,547 | 553 | 22.1 |
Cedric Maxwell tops it at 41.6%, and Maggette has 3 of the top 10. Harden’s best season, 2012-13, is only #31. He got to the line a ton, but he also made a lot of shots.
Jimmy Butler, A Hidden Free Throw Merchant
Jimmy Butler has the reputation of one of the toughest guys in the league. Heat Culture, Playoff Jimmy, all of that. But anyone who’s had him on a fantasy team knows where his points come from.
The single games: he scored 20+ points on 3 or fewer made shots three times, all within five weeks (November 20 to December 27, 2019).
The seasons: that same 2019-20 is #5 on the list, with 37.9% of his points from the line. And it wasn’t a one-off. Out of 3,572 qualifying seasons, Butler has 6 in the top 70, five of them in Miami.
Tough guy? Maybe. Free throw merchant? Definitely.
If there’s a real patron saint of getting carried by the refs, it’s probably Corey Maggette. Jimmy is a close second.
See you next time.
Data: Kaggle NBA box scores (Eoin Moore), snapshot July 6, 2026. Single games: regular season and playoffs since 1946-47.
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