NBA

New LA Lakers Center Andre Drummond Holds Quite the Embarrassing NBA Record

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Andre Drummond during a Cavaliers matchup with the Heat in February 2020

New Los Angeles Lakers center Andre Drummond does a lot of things on the basketball court very well. He can score. He can rebound. And he’s quite an underrated defender. But when it comes to shooting free throws, the two-time NBA All-Star has never been able to figure that part of the game out. Drummond is historically one of the worst free-throw shooters in history and actually holds an embarrassing NBA record for the most free throws missed in a single game.

Andre Drummond signs with the LA Lakers

For those who haven’t yet heard, Andre Drummond has signed with the LA Lakers for the remainder of the 2020-2021 season after spending just over a year with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Drafted by the Detroit Pistons with the ninth overall pick in 2012 out of UConn, Drummond spent the first seven and a half seasons of his NBA career in the Motor City, where he averaged 14.4 points, 13.9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and 1.4 steals.

He earned two trips to the All-Star Game, was an All-NBA Third-Team selection in 2016, and led the league in rebounding four times, the last of which came last season, a season in which he played 49 games for the Pistons before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Drummond suited up for the Cavs in just 33 games over the past year and was averaging 17.5 points and 13.5 rebounds before agreeing to a buyout. He now joins a Lakers team that is currently without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, both of whom are dealing with injuries, and will likely step into the starting lineup immediately given the inconsistent play of Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell this season.

So let’s get to those issues at the foul line.

The two-time All-Star is statistically the second-worst free-throw shooter in NBA history

In the 624 regular-season games Andre Drummond has played in the NBA, he’s taken 3,023 shots from the foul line and made just 1,411 of them, which puts his free-throw percentage at 46.7%.

Of any NBA player in history that’s missed at least 1,200 free throws, Drummond is the second-worst free-throw shooter in league history behind only Ben Wallace, who shot 1,109-for-2,679 from the foul line over the course of his 16-year career, which calculates to 41.4%.

Andre Drummond holds the NBA record for most missed free throws in a single game with 23

Andre Drummond during a Cavaliers matchup with the Heat in February 2020
Andre Drummond | Michael Reaves/Getty Images

On January 20, 2016, Andre Drummond and the Detroit Pistons welcomed the Houston Rockets to the Palace of Auburn Hills and earned a hard-fought 123-114 victory.

Drummond scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the win but left a lot of points on the table that night. He took an incredible 36 foul shots in the game but made just 13 of them, setting a new NBA record for the most free throws missed in a single game with 23. The previous record of 22 was originally set by Wilt Chamberlain in December 1967 and tied by DeAndre Jordan in November 2015.

Luckily for the LA Lakers, they have a little bit of experience with winning with centers who don’t shoot free throws that well as they won three straight titles with Shaquille O’Neal in the early 2000s.

Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference