Zach LaVine etched his name in the Chicago Bulls history books during Friday’s loss to the Boston Celtics, claiming a new record — the most career 3-pointers in franchise history.
LaVine broke the record in the fourth quarter, stepping back into a shot at the top of the arc to bury a 3-pointer over the outstretched hand of Kristaps Porziņģis. He surpassed former guard Kirk Hinrich, who had previously set the record at 1,049 in 2016.
At the start of the 2023-24 season, LaVine was aware that he was creeping closer to Hinrich’s record as he racked up more 3-pointers — and noted ruefully that he could have shattered that record almost a full calendar year earlier if not for a foot injury, which cut his season short after 25 games.
“It’s a long time coming,” LaVine said. “Whenever you can keep climbing up the ladders in certain areas, it’s a tribute to your hard work.”
It can be challenging to weigh the importance of 3-point statistics across franchise history. The shot wasn’t introduced to the league until 1979 and didn’t become heavily prevalent in offensive schemes until the mid-2010s, which means many franchise legends (for instance, Michael Jordan) aren’t preserved in the annals of 3-point recordkeeping. Two of the top three players on the Bulls’ all-time 3-point list are still active on the roster — LaVine (1,051) and Coby White (838).
The record set by Hinrich reflected both his longevity with the team (spanning two stints from 2003-10 and 2012-16) and efficiency (shooting over 40% from 3-point range for three of his 11 years with the Bulls). LaVine isn’t just familiar with the former guard’s legacy — he played against Hinrich in the waning years of his career, when he returned to the Bulls and then the Atlanta Hawks before retiring in 2016.
“Kirk’s one of the all-time great guys here,” LaVine said. “Hell of a player, so hat’s off to him.”
Although it came later than LaVine initially hoped, crossing this threshold on Friday marked a crucial step during a turning point season — for himself and the Bulls.
Nearly a quarter of the way into the season, LaVine is on track to have the most efficient shooting year of his career. That’s not a small feat for a player known to average more than three 3-pointers per game in his early years with the Bulls. LaVine has always been the most automatic shooter on the Bulls roster. And even the slight blip of last season — when his shooting dipped to 34.9%, the lowest since his rookie season — was easy to shake off as an injury-fueled anomaly.
It makes sense that LaVine returned to his typical shooting form this season. The Bulls are taking more 3-pointers than ever — not just in recent years, but in the history of the franchise. The offense is averaging 16.4 made 3-pointers on 42.9 attempts per game, trailing only the Boston Celtics, whose astronomical 50.7 attempts per game have rewritten expectations for what it means to operate an elite long-range attack in the NBA.
LaVine is not the sole denominator in this 3-point equation for the Bulls. The Bulls are led from behind the arc by Coby White, who is averaging a team-best 3.3 makes on 8.7 attempts from 3-point range per game. LaVine isn’t far behind with 3.2 per game — but he is maintaining that volume while taking only 7.4 attempts per game.
This is a significant drop-off from LaVine’s prior career-best seasons from 3-point range, when he typically required at least eight attempts to net more than three 3-pointers per game. But efficiency is the key for LaVine this season, who isn’t eager to use the team’s newfound high-volume shooting as an excuse to rack up his own attempts.
The result is the ideal for the Bulls: a highly confident, highly efficient version of LaVine who can anchor the Bulls offense without detracting from teammates like White and Nikola Vučević who are also experiencing resurgent seasons from 3-point range.
This feeds into the end game for the Bulls, who are still focused on finding a trade destination for LaVine. With each sharpshooting performance, the guard makes that process incrementally easier for the Bulls — while making the game easier for himself.
With a new place in the record books, the only question left for LaVine is if he can maintain this pace for a full season.
