The NBA will implement a new change for the 2025-26 season with unsuccessful end-of-period heaves now being recorded as a missed field goal attempt for the team, not the player.
Under the new rule, which was finalized at the league’s board of governors meeting Wednesday, those long heaves will no longer impact an individual player’s percentages.
Even more long-range shots are expected from players this season, which was behind motivation of the change and the league testing it at the Summer League in July. The league’s competition committee has been in support of the adjustment in recent months, too.
For stat-keeping purposes, the NBA will tell teams that any shot taken within the final three seconds of the first three quarters and is launched from at least 36 feet away on any play that starts in the backcourt will count as a team shot attempt — but not an individual one.
Many players have avoided taking the miracle 50-footer or deeper shot at the end of quarters to protect their personal shooting percentages. The “heave rule,” the league hopes, will fix that.
According to SportRadar, players last season made about 4% of shots taken in the final three seconds of the first three quarters of a game with the 36-foot minimum distance. Based on its tracking data, Golden State’s Stephen Curry made four shots under those criteria last season and Denver’s Nikola Jokic made three.
ESPN’s Shams Charania and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
