Warriors preach patience as Kelly Oubre Jr.’s shooting slump continues

As he ran back on defense, Warriors guard Kelly Oubre Jr. turned toward the Kings’ bench and blew a kiss.

It was midway through the third quarter of Monday’s win over Sacramento at Chase Center, and Oubre had just hit his third 3-pointer of the night. The blowing of that kiss, though directed at Kings players, might as well have been targeted at all of Oubre’s critics.

As Oubre labors through a historic shooting slump little more than two weeks into his Warriors tenure, he takes issue with the fact that his mounting misses have become a storyline. That mini-outburst against Sacramento, when Oubre went 4-for-6 from 3-point range, was an outlier in an otherwise atrocious season from beyond the arc.

Entering Friday’s nationally televised matchup with the Clippers, Oubre is just 6-for-42 (14.3%) from 3-point range. This is the worst 3-point percentage on such a volume for a player through eight games in NBA history.

What’s especially startling is that, even as he acclimates to the Warriors’ read-and-react system, Oubre hasn’t had trouble finding open looks. An average of 5.2 of his 5.3 3-point attempts per game have come with no defender within four feet of him. Opponents have lagged off of Oubre along the perimeter, only for him to clang long-range jumper after long-range jumper.

Head coach Steve Kerr refuses to panic, often reminding reporters that even Klay Thompson — arguably the second-best shooter in NBA history — has been known to start seasons in shooting slumps. The Warriors are adamant that, once Oubre gets more accustomed to the rhythm and flow of Kerr’s offense, he will start to string together performances like that one against Sacramento.

“I always feel like coming to a new team is difficult,” said Kerr, the NBA’s all-time career 3-point accuracy leader at 45.3%. “So, Kelly’s shooting struggles right now really aren’t that surprising. I know it’s going to turn. Every time I went to a new team in my career, it was very, very difficult to find comfort in my shots in the early going.”

To be a factor in the Western Conference, Golden State needs its starting wings, Oubre and Andrew Wiggins, to be at or near last season’s league-average 3-point clip of 35.8%. This is a team that, thanks to its up-tempo style, gets a slew of open 3-point tries in transition. With Thompson out for the season with a torn right Achilles tendon, Oubre and Wiggins are getting a major chunk of those looks.

Though the Warriors’ recent dynasty revolutionized how the NBA views 3-point shooting, they’re suddenly light on proven 3-point shooters outside of Stephen Curry. The only active Golden State player who shot above the league average from beyond the arc last season was backup point guard Brad Wanamaker, who, in 71 games with Boston, shot 36.3% from 3-point range.

To help fill Thompson’s void along the perimeter, the Warriors acquired Oubre from Oklahoma City a day after news surfaced about the severity of Thompson’s injury. The move, which spiked Golden State’s luxury-tax bill by nearly $70 million, put immediate pressure on Oubre to build off last season’s breakthrough with Phoenix.

In addition to needing Oubre to play the best defense of his career, the Warriors want him to shoot better from 3-point range than his career-best percentage of 35.2. It was encouraging that, each of the past three years, his clip from beyond the arc had improved significantly.

But after more than a half-dozen games with the Warriors, Oubre is still rushing 3-pointers early in the shot clock instead of finding his looks within the flow of the offense. This is something he must change. Outside of transition opportunities, Kerr wants his players to get up 3-pointers after the ball has darted from side to side at least a couple of times.

With Oubre shooting such a poor percentage despite attempting the second-most 3-pointers on the team, the Warriors have an unenviable distinction: They rank ninth out of 30 NBA teams in 3-point attempts, but just 23rd in 3-point percentage. The success of Wiggins, who is shooting 40.5% on 4.6 3-point tries per game this season, has only put a bigger spotlight on Oubre’s struggles.

He has seen the stories written about his issues from 3-point range, and he recently told reporters, “I know you guys always need a headline.” But at this stage of the season, Oubre’s numbers can’t simply be dismissed as a small sample size.

“He can’t lose confidence,” Curry said of Oubre. “He has to take those shots.”

Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @Con_Chron