If there's one thing that separates NBA superstars from every other pro basketball player, it's their abilities to create their own buckets. An elite group of players has the ability to take advantage of any sliver of space or the slightest opening to the rim -- scoring in ways that leave defenses completely helpless.
The most deflating of these plays come on three types of spectacular moves, all unassisted and all unstoppable in the right hands: the step-back, the iso dunk and the deep pull-up 3. The best in the game rely on these moves when they need a bucket and want to make sure there's nothing you can do about it. In a way, they're perfect reflections of the modern game. But they're also deeply rooted in their own important basketball lineages.
Here is the evolution of the most unguardable moves in the NBA.
The step-back
Let's start with the go-to move for the NBA's three-time defending scoring champion. James Harden has leveraged his amazing ability to create his own 3-point shots off the bounce for years now. He hunts and pecks with endless dribbles -- rocking his body, threatening a dribble-drive. As soon as he notices his defender is leaning just a hair the wrong way, he pulls his body back, gathers up his dribble and fires.
The numbers are startling. Over the past six seasons, Harden has attempted a staggering 1,988 step-back 3s. Nobody else in the league has tried more than 800.
While Harden is the current master of this emerging technique, he is by no means the first jump-shooter to create his own space. The league's best scorers have been doing that for decades. Old-school icons such as Pete Maravich and Larry Bird proved jump-shooters could become elite scorers, but one legend took it to another level. Even if Michael Jordan never attempted a step-back 3, he deserves credit for an integral part of the move.
Jordan entered a league that belonged to size and strength. By the time he walked away, he proved that great jump-shooters can win both scoring titles and NBA championships. And he did it by creating his own shooting space with incredible pull-ups and unstoppable fadeaways.
Jordan was in complete control during moves like this. The defender was at his will. You could try to predict the when and where of MJ's fadeaway, but you'd likely still fail. He needed only a few inches, and then it was over.
We didn't talk much about efficiency in the 1990s, but when we review Jordan's midrange stats through today's analytical lens, his numbers are astounding. In 1996-97, he led the NBA in midrange attempts and efficiency.
A decade later, Dirk Nowitzki took the move one step further by adding more of a step-back element. Nowitzki combined his enormous size with a high release point and masterful footwork to create his own unstoppable jump-shooting arsenal.
He rode shots like this all the way to the 2011 NBA championship:
Then came Harden and Stephen Curry, who both used the same principles to do something outlandish. They exported the unassisted jumper revolution out to 3-point territory, changing the game forever in the process.
Heading into the 2010s, 3-pointers were almost always assisted, catch-and-shoot affairs. That's largely because it's difficult to shoot a 1.4-pound ball from 24 feet without having your feet set, your balance aligned and your body ready to heave from that distance. You can't reliably shoot a fadeaway from behind the 3-point line (at least not yet). The power, finesse and contortion required to convert a bucket is just too big of an ask at that distance.
So Harden and Curry -- still hunting for a sliver of space, still looking to do it all alone -- switched up the move. They faced up, used their dribble and stepped back. They used ridiculous handles and the threat of rim attacks to destroy their defenders' balance. But because they were facing the target, they could effectively shoot the ball from distance. By timing their gather with exquisite footwork, they essentially transitioned from dribblers to 3-point shooters in the blink of an eye.
By the time defenders realized what they were up to, it was too late.
And by the time Luka Doncic was entering the league, the move was officially a thing. Rather than a relatively simple step-back, now we get stuff like this:
Harden and Doncic make this look easy, but it's not. Only six players are even attempting multiple step-back 3s per game, according to Second Spectrum tracking. This is a cheat code reserved for a select few.
The unassisted dunk
While the past 10 years in the NBA will be remembered for the 3-point revolution, games are won and lost at the rim, too. Many of the league's most important superstars still create their own buckets in the paint, blending power, size and speed to dunk at will.
While 3s have reshaped the look and feel of pro basketball, one guy being able to put the ball directly into the rim is an extreme luxury in tight playoff games.
Interior domination is as old as the NBA itself, and many of the league's first superstars (George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell) used unassisted dunks and layups to pave the way for today's greats. But the seminal interior dominator in the 21st century is Shaquille O'Neal, one of the greatest centers ever and arguably the single most physically imposing player in NBA history.
O'Neal propelled the Lakers to three consecutive titles with dunk after dunk. If you didn't send the double-team, he'd bump and fake anyone into oblivion on the way to a slam like this:
LeBron James -- the most visible basketball player on the planet for at least a decade now -- is a threat to do nearly anything on the court. Even at age 36, he's at perhaps his most undeniable when he channels Shaq from the perimeter. Let James beat the first defender and it often doesn't matter what help defense is coming. He's ready to throw it down.
You can see James' influence on two of the league's most imposing younger players.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has won the league's past two MVP awards in part because his skills are half-Shaq, half-James. As Giannis has come into his own, he also has taken the interior crown away from LeBron, leading the league in points in the paint in each of the past three seasons thanks in large part to his unassisted jams.
If he'd been born 30 years earlier, Antetokounmpo would have been a back-to-the-basket big man. But those days are gone. Instead, Giannis torches defenses face-to-face, combining James' court vision and ballhandling with O'Neal's forceful finishes:
But Antetokounmpo's reign in the paint might be brief. There's a challenger in New Orleans, and this move is what makes him special.
At age 21, Zion Williamson is averaging nearly 20 points per game in the lane, emerging as the latest do-it-yourself dunking machine. Like James, he is blessed with a tremendous feel for the game. Like O'Neal, he comes equipped with a blend of size and strength that just seems unfair. That combination results in a unique ability to get from the edges to the rim, where his explosive jams become viral masterpieces.
The deeeep pull-up 3
Along with step-back 3s, deep pull-up 3s are among the fastest-growing shot types in the NBA. Today's best shooters are now comfortable shooting from distances that were deemed absurd just a decade ago.
Steph Curry normalized this move, but some of his NBA ancestors were pretty good at it too. One example: Gilbert Arenas, probably the boldest jump-shooter of his era, showed the world that shooting from 30 feet wasn't impossible. Arenas hit big-time buzzer-beaters from outer space throughout his career.
Still, the biggest moment in the league's deep 3 movement happened on a Saturday night in Oklahoma City. Curry melted our faces with a 37-foot buzzer-beating bomb in one of the 2015-16 season's biggest games.
This was no game of HORSE. This was arguably the biggest moment in the Warriors' race for 73 wins, and Curry just pulled up from Neptune to ice the game.
Curry will go down as one of the most influential players in league history for proving that it is possible to be efficient from beyond 30 feet. Since 2013-14, he has made a ridiculous 37.6% of his 193 attempts from that range. On these 10-yard completions, Curry is the most accurate quarterback in the NBA.
But he's not alone. Any conversation about deep 3s needs to include Damian Lillard, who has ended two playoff series with legendary triples from way downtown. Lillard can't quite match Curry's accuracy, but he's not far behind. And nobody -- not even Curry -- has made more deep ones than Dame, who has sunk 140 3s from beyond 30 feet since 2013-14, per Second Spectrum data.
Curry and Lillard launched the deep-ball revolution. Trae Young, who grew up just a few miles from where Curry hit that OKC shot, seems poised to take it to another level. Young leads the league in 30-foot attempts and makes this season, while also shooting a higher percentage than both Curry and Lillard.
If the next guy in line after Curry and Lillard is already doing stuff like this, just imagine what comes after Young.
One of the best things about pro basketball is that it's constantly evolving. The world's most influential hoopers find new ways to create their own buckets in breathtaking fashion, and then there is yet another generation of future superstars taking notes.
Animations by Walker TKL