BOSTON — When Payton Pritchard hit his third three-pointer of the night in Friday’s Celtics game against the Phoenix Suns, NBA history was made. That’s because the Sixth Man of the Year’s trey marked the Celtics’ 1364th three-pointer of the season — setting a new NBA record for most threes in a single season.
That surpasses the Golden State Warriors’ record from 2023; that Steph Curry and Klay Thompson-led squad made 1,363 three-pointers fresh off their championship season.
In third place? Last year’s Celtics team — which made 1,351 three-pointers. Most stunning is that the Celtics still have 5 (and a half) games left to play to build upon this record. The 2023 Celtics have the fifth-most threes in NBA history, meaning that under Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics have three of the top five seasons when it comes to made three-pointers, per 98.5’s Sean Grande.
The 3 by Payton Pritchard is the Celtics’ 8th of the night, and the 1,364th of the season.
That’s a new NBA record.
The Celtics have five games left after tonight. pic.twitter.com/4MsZwKwh1m
— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) April 5, 2025
Last month, when Mazzulla was asked about the Celtics inching toward the league’s all-time record, he said simply: “Red Auerbach said it best. Rebounding is the second most important thing. The first is shooting.”
The Celtics have hit way more threes than any other NBA team this season; they held a 156-shot advantage over the Cleveland Cavaliers entering Friday’s game. The Celtics are shooting 36.9% from three this season, good for 8th-best in the NBA.
Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard continue three-man race for the Celtics’ single-season three-point record
Tatum, White, and Pritchard remain in a three-way race for most threes in a single season in Celtics history. White broke the record on Monday in Memphis when he hit his 246th three-pointer of the season, surpassing Isaiah Thomas’s 2017 record.
White said he was surprised to find himself in that position, pointing to how he didn’t shoot many threes when he first entered the league.
“I mean, did you watch me early in my career?” White said with a smile. “I think it’s pretty self-explanatory.”
Entering Friday, Tatum was averaging 10.1 threes on 34.6% shooting, White 9.1 threes on 38% shooting, and Pritchard 7.9 threes on 41% shooting. White had made 249 threes, Tatum 242, and Pritchard 240. Depending on rest down the stretch (or just hot shooting), one of Tatum or Pritchard could claim the top spot on the three-point leaderboard before the year’s end.
But regardless of which of the three ends up on top, the Celtics as a team have set a new collective record.
