Los Angeles Lakers: Building the all-time three-point shooting team

LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES: Glen Rice of the Los Angeles Lakers stretches his arms before his game against the Golden State Warriors 12 March in Los Angeles, Ca. Rice scored 21 points to lead the Lakers to a 89-78 win in his first game of the season after recovering from elbow surgery and being traded this week to the Lakers. AFP PHOTO/ Vince BUCCI (Photo credit should read Vince Bucci/AFP via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES: Glen Rice of the Los Angeles Lakers stretches his arms before his game against the Golden State Warriors 12 March in Los Angeles, Ca. Rice scored 21 points to lead the Lakers to a 89-78 win in his first game of the season after recovering from elbow surgery and being traded this week to the Lakers. AFP PHOTO/ Vince BUCCI (Photo credit should read Vince Bucci/AFP via Getty Images)
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(Todd Warshaw /Allsport) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Todd Warshaw /Allsport) – Los Angeles Lakers

SF: Glen Rice (37.6%)

Glen Rice had a really, really good prime in which he was putting up the kind of numbers that could have led to a Hall of Fame career if they were prolonged. Unfortunately for Rice, that elite prime only really lasted about three seasons.

He still averaged over 20 points per game in an entire decade from 1991 to 2001, so we cannot discount him as one of the best role players in the league in the 90s.

The elite prime we mentioned came in his three years with the Charlotte Hornets, which were the three years before he joined the Los Angeles Lakers. Rice was an all-star in all three seasons, an All-NBA member in two, and he averaged a combined 23.6 points with 4.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists.

More incredibly, he shot 43.5 percent from beyond the arc in those three seasons with the Hornets, an absolutely stellar number, even by today’s standards.

His three-point shooting started off just as elite with the Los Angeles Lakers as well. He shot 43.3 percent from beyond the arc in his first season in LA but then saw his shooting dip to 39.3 percent and 36.7 percent in his last two years.

Rice started 105 of the 107 games he played with the Lakers and averaged 3.4 threes per game. If he played in today’s NBA, and was given the chance to 6-7 threes per game, then he probably would have had an even better career.