New NBA 'heave' rule rewards stars who don't pad stats

The NBA defines a "heave" as a shot taken from the backcourt, at least 36 feet from the rim, in the final three seconds of the first three quarters. Starting in 2025-26, those shots won't count as a missed field goal attempt, which should have a dramatic impact on the shooting stats of some stars.

Basketball's bravest heavers get a break

Last season, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets attempted the most heaves in the NBA, launching 22 shots and making two of them. He finished the season shooting an impressive 41.7 percent from three-point range, but adjusting for heaves moves him to 44.3 percent, and 36.7 percent for his career.

Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors has attempted 110 heaves in his NBA career, making only six of them. He's made 42.3 percent of his career three-pointers (13th all-time), but applying the new heave rule retroactively would bump him up to 42.8 percent, leapfrogging B.J. Armstrong and Steve Nash — though Nash went 0-for-10 on heaves himself, which would keep him just above Curry.

Kobe Bryant was also a bold, if unsuccessful, heaver, going 1-for-54 in his career. Adjusting would bump him up from a 32.9 percent three-point shooter to 33.2 percent, a small but significant difference.

Some stars like Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook won't take heaves

In the 14 years since his first season with the Miami Heat in 2010-11, LeBron James has only tried six heaves, despite attempting 17,695 field goals in that same time period. James Harden has attempted 18 heaves in 16 seasons, while his frequent teammate Russell Westbrook has taken 16 heaves in 17 seasons, despite being 13th all-time in field goal attempts.

Kevin Durant is the most dramatic example, having taken only nine heaves in 17 NBA seasons. In the two seasons he led the NBA in field goal attempts, 2009-10 and 2013-14, Durant took one heave each season.

But that's the case for most players, who choose to preserve their shooting percentages rather than take a low-percentage, desperation shot. In a 2009 piece for "The New York Times Magazine" about Shane Battier that described how little the forward cared about his statistics, Michael Lewis discovered that the one area Battier did care about was shooting percentage:

"In the final second of any quarter, finding himself with the ball and on the wrong side of the half-court line, Battier refuses to heave it honestly at the basket, in an improbable but not impossible attempt to score. He heaves it disingenuously, and a millisecond after the buzzer sounds."

This issue seems unique to the NBA. NFL quarterbacks don't hesitate to throw desperation Hail Mary passes, perhaps because teams acknowledge interceptions aren't the same as others. With this new rule, the NBA will reward boldness and remove the disincentive for missed shots — something Jokic and Curry will especially appreciate.