Ben Wallace, Wilt Chamberlain Top List of All-Time Worst Free Throw Shooters

Published on April 26th, 2022 1:31 am EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


People often ridicule Shaquille O'Neal over his terrible free throw shooting, though he isn't the worst free throw shooter of all time (though he is close).

There are two different ways that we can break down the worst NBA free throw shooter of all time:

1. Worst Free Throw % (Minimum 1,200 Attempts)

If you go based on worst free throw %, Ben Wallace is the worst free throw shooter of all time, and it isn't even close.

Wallace finished his career with a 41.4% free throw percentage, which is miles worse than the next closest players on the list (Andre Drummond (47.3%), DeAndre Jordan (47.5%)).

Ben Wallace was a ferocious defensive player and was a nightmare to play against, though he was absolutely atrocious at the free throw line.

2. Most Free Throws Missed

Wilt Chamberlain missed an eye-popping 5,805 free throws over the course of his career, which gives him the all-time lead in this category.

Shaquille O'Neal is second on the list with a total of 5,317 free throw misses, while Dwight Howard comes in at #3 with a total of 4,094 free throw misses.

Shaq gets a ton of heat for his free throw ineffectiveness, though it should be mentioned that his free throw % was over 11% better than Ben Wallace's.

While Shaq and Wilt Chamberlain both had over 5,000 free throw misses over the course of their careers, they went to the line an outrageous amount due to their physical domination, which often resulted in defenses intentionally or unintentionally fouling them.

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Let's compare these numbers to the 2020-21 NBA regular season, when the WORST free throw shooter was Ben Simmons, who had a free throw percentage of 61.3%.

The fact that the WORST free throw shooter in 2020-21 still had a free throw % that was 20 points better than Ben Wallace's lifetime free throw % proves that Ben Wallace is, in fact, the worst free throw shooter of all time.