Where Lakers fit among NBA’s worst 3-point shooting teams ever

The Los Angeles Lakers are already off to a record-setting pace this season.

Unfortunately, the benchmark they are pursuing is that of the worst-shooting team in NBA history.

Through four games this season, all losses, the entire Lakers roster has equaled Todd Day’s 1993-94 season from 3-point range for the 20-win Milwaukee Bucks: 33 of 148 (22.3%). This is not a compliment.

The 2019-20 Chicago Bulls are the only other team besides this year’s Lakers to shoot 30% or worse on 30 or more 3-point attempts in each of the first four games of a season, according to Basketball Reference. Only 10 times in league history has a team had so bad a shooting streak for four straight games at any point in a season, and last year’s Houston Rockets are the only team ever to extend the streak longer than four games, losing six straight in that fashion from November 12-22 en route to the league’s worst record.

The Lakers could join them with a fifth straight clunker against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.

The worst 3-point shooting teams in NBA history

Of the 200 teams that shot 30% or worse on 3-pointers for an entire season, just 10 of them have done so since the league average for long-distance attempts per game hit double digits for the first time in 1994-95:

• 1997-98 Golden State Warriors (19-63): 189-696 3P (27.2% on 8.5 3PA/G)

• 1997-98 Philadelphia 76ers (31-51): 243-810 3P (30% on 9.9 3PA/G)

• 1998-99 Philadelphia 76ers (28-22): 98-371 3P (26.4% on 7.4 3PA/G)

• 1998-99 Golden State Warriors (21-29): 162-565 3P (28.7% on 11.3 3PA/G)

• 1998-99 Chicago Bulls (13-37): 177-612 3P (28.9% on 12.2 3PA/G)

• 1998-99 Minnesota Timberwolves (25-25): 122-410 3P (29.8% on 8.2 3PA/G)

• 2000-01 Golden State Warriors (17-65): 282-964 3P (29.3% on 11.8 3PA/G)

• 2001-02 Philadelphia 76ers (43-39): 214-715 3P (29.9% on 8.7 3PA/G)

• 2002-03 Denver Nuggets (17-65): 229-824 3P (27.8% on 10.1 3PA/G)

• 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats (7-59): 263-892 3P (29.5% on 10.9 3PA/G)

Story continues

Note that the only team in the last 20…