Inside the NBA's Year of the Lefty

Mar 18, 2021

What's behind the NBA's left-handed explosion? Plus notes on the P.J. Tucker trade.

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Welcome to the Morning Shootaround, where every weekday you’ll get a fresh, topical column from one of SI.com’s NBA writers: Howard Beck on Mondays, Chris Mannix on Tuesdays, Michael Pina on Wednesdays, Chris Herring on Thursdays and Rohan Nadkarni on Fridays.

Mike Conley was this close to winning it.

Upon being tapped to replace Devin Booker in the All-Star Game—and making history by being the first NBA player to make his inaugural All-Star appearance this far into a career—the Utah Jazz guard also agreed to take Booker’s spot in the Three-Point Contest. On just two days’ notice, Conley put up 28 points in the first round of the competition, then managed an impressive score of 27 in the final round.

It looked like it might even be enough to take out Stephen Curry, who struggled out of the gate. But then Curry’s final attempt, a moneyball from the corner, went down, giving him a one-point win over Conley.

Still, as Curry celebrated winning yet another accolade for his otherworldly shooting, Conley was all smiles. And why wouldn’t he be? The contest marked one of the few things he hasn’t won so far this year.

After a challenging first season in Utah, the 33-year-old has the stirred the drink for the Jazz in Year Two. The club owns the NBA’s best record and its best net rating, and Conley—shooting better than he ever has from deep and posting a career-high in effective field-goal rate—has been an enormous part of that effort.

But on a broader level, Conley’s banner season is merely part of what’s been the NBA’s Year of the Lefty.

Aside from Conley, the Knicks—led by two southpaws—are more relevant than they’ve been this deep into March in nearly a decade. One borough over, James Harden has the Nets rolling, having won 14 of 15, even with superstar Kevin Durant sidelined for almost all those contests. Sixer Ben Simmons is in the midst of a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber season on that side of the ball, with ESPN’s Zach Lowe comparing his ability as a stopper to that of Deion Sanders. And second-year forward Zion Williamson, the runaway bully buffalo, just had the NBA’s first 25-point-per-game, 60% shooting month in 16 seasons.

Of the 441 players who’ve appeared in at least 10 games this season, just 34 of them—exactly 8%—are left-handers. Yet lefties have accounted for almost 10.5% of the league’s total win shares this year, making the 2020-21 season the most they’ve punched above their weight class in almost a decade. On average, left-handed players have been worth nearly half a victory more than right-handers this year.

And while it’s fair to wonder if those left-leaning metrics are powered solely by the league’s stars, a number of second- and third-tier lefties have enjoyed career-best levels of success this season, too.

Jazz forward Joe Ingles has been even more efficient than Conley has, and leads the NBA in true-shooting percentage. Chicago’s Thaddeus Young, having shelved his three-point attempts, has played the most efficient ball of his NBA life and is assisting at a higher clip than he ever has. (“Thad’s been, for me personally, the MVP of the team,” Bulls All-Star Zach LaVine said.) The Rockets are awful and have dropped 18 in a row, but it’s hard to find fault with rookie Jae’Sean Tate, who, despite being an undersized small forward at 6' 4", is a defensive menace and shoots better than 50% — a rarity for first-year wing players. Another rarity: Jalen Brunson, the Mavericks’ 6' 1", southpaw point guard, shooting upwards of 60% from two-point range, which hasn’t been done by someone that short since 1977, per Stathead data.

The natural question here, of course, is whether anything’s changed throughout the league that might explain the lefty breakout. And at first glance, there isn’t. While left-handers might hold a slight natural advantage on defense—when they reach for steals and go for blocks, they’re impeding a right-handed player’s strong side—the share of lefties in the NBA this season has remained flat.

While there may not be a leaguewide shift at play, it is noteworthy that the five lefties with the most win shares—Harden, Williamson, New York’s Julius Randle, Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis and Simmons—all have at least one other thing in common. They all have new coaches this season, perhaps presenting them with different looks and opportunities on the court from what they had last season.

This isn’t to suggest that lefties suddenly have it made. Golden State’s Kelly Oubre converted layups like there was a lid attached to the rim to begin the season, and with a 43.2% effective field-goal mark, Portland’s Rodney Hood so far has the worst win-share total in the entire league among veterans.

But don’t let those datapoints fool you: On the whole, this has been an unusually successful season for lefties, both at the star and role-player levels.

P.J. Tucker is headed to Milwaukee

From the moment reports surfaced that P.J. Tucker was headed to Milwaukee, the question got raised: What does this mean for the Bucks’ title hopes?

The same question got asked about the Nets when Blake Griffin signed with Brooklyn. And the truth is, no one has any idea yet about either.

The reason the moves are hard to read is simple: Neither player has looked good, or himself, this season. In Griffin’s case, it’s been an almost-unprecedented fall from All-NBA level grace at the age of 32. With Tucker, it’s been a downward trajectory from being one of the best role players in the league; one who could lead the league in corner triples, while also anchoring the back line as a small-ball center at just 6-foot-5.

Yet in both cases, it’s unclear how much more they have in the tank after years of playing such physically bruising styles. Similarly, some will wonder whether their struggles were more a sign of frustration with playing for young, rebuilding teams — that perhaps the players can turn things around with more effort.

There’s simply no way to know just yet. But between the Tucker trade, and Griffin signing, one thing’s become clear: The contenders will gladly acquire these sorts of players like now, even if it’s not totally clear whether it ultimately boosts their odds of winning it all later.