Every NBA fan knows the experience: a player has the ball approaching halfcourt as the buzzer is about to sound on the end of the quarter, and their last-second heave comes just late so the shot doesn’t count. It’s all by design. NBA players know their shooting percentages matter more than ever these days, and they don’t want to hurt their numbers with a heave that has a statically minuscule change of going in the basket.
Fans don’t care if a player shoots 35 percent of 34.3 percent from three — they just want to see their teams play to the buzzer and try to win. We are about to see a lot more heaves in the NBA next season after a subtle rule change that will undoubtedly change the outcome of at least a few games next season.
The NBA has decided to start ruling heaves as a miss for the team, not the player, according to Shams Charania. Instead of intentionally holding onto the shot a tad too long so it doesn’t hurt their three-point percentage, players will now be incentivized to chuck the shot and try to help their team with a basket.
Only one player in the NBA took more than 12 heaves last season: that would be Nikola Jokic, who attempted 22 heaves. Jokic made two of those shots, but missed 20 of them. If you remove the heaves, Jokic would have shot 44.3 percent on three-pointers instead of the 41.7 percent he wound up at. Jokic is getting a max contract no matter what, so what does he care if his shooting percentage dips on heaves? He takes the shot because if it goes in, it could help his team win. Now every player will be able to fling it with the same freedom.
It’s surprising to see some blowback on this from NBA fans. This is a great change: players get to shoot with zero negative repercussions, and fans could see a thrilling halfcourt shot they will remember forever.
The assumption is that the made field goal will still go to the player if the shot falls. You can find plenty of examples of LeBron James and other stars not taking a heave. Now there’s no reason not to try it. This might be a minor adjustment, but it’s a good one, and you can bet there will be multiple games next season that swing because a heave a player wouldn’t have taken actually went in.
