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Basketball is firmly a team sport, but there are many NBA players who are fairly fixated on their individual stats. That reality has dissuaded many of them from attempting last-second heaves at the end of the quarter, and the league has opted to adjust the rulebook in the hopes of encouraging them to try to make one of the most electric shots the sport has to offer.
Analytics have led to NBA teams harnessing an offensive strategy that largely revolves around hitting shots from beyond the arc. That means basketball has transformed into a long-range game at the highest level of the sport, but there’s also been a decrease in the number of shot attempts that can be accurately described as a “prayer.”
Basketball is obviously a game where you win by scoring more points than your opponent, and in theory, that means players should take advantage of every possession where they have the chance to put another tally on the board.
There was once a time when most guys didn’t think twice about chucking up the ball from behind halfcourt in the closing seconds of a quarter knowing there was a slim chance they might be able to add three points to their team’s total as a result. However, those heaves have become increasingly scarce due to players who don’t want to see their individual shooting percentage take a hit if they miss.
There are some exceptions (Celtics guard Payton Pritchard has emerged as a bit of a long shot specialist), but it’s a trend that’s become impossible to ignore and one that has sucked some excitement out of the game. Thankfully, it sounds like that era is about to come to a merciful end.
The NBA is incentivizing players to start attempting last-second shots by making sure misses won’t impact individual stats
You can’t talk about this issue without discussing the many NBA contracts that contain incentives linked to individual stats and awards where shooting percentage could theoretically come into play, and it’s hard to blame players for making a literal business decision by erring on the side of caution.
All signs pointed to the powers that be doing something to address the problem, as it used the G League for a testing ground for a new rule concerning what are officially referred to as “end-of-period heaves” last year before adopting it during the most recent installment of the Summer League.
According to ESPN, a new rule will be instituted once the regular season kicks off this year, as heaves will be counted as a team stat as opposed to an individual one if they:
Are attempted within the final three seconds of a quarter
Are shot from at least 36 feet away in the basket
Attempted on a play that originated in the backcourt
As the outlet notes, shots fitting the first two criteria had a 4% success rate last season. It’s kind of dumb that we needed a new rule in the first place, but this is definitely the right move.