{"id":158486,"date":"2025-09-10T15:07:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T19:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=158486"},"modified":"2025-09-10T15:07:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T19:07:05","slug":"nba-heaves-rule-change-2025-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/09\/10\/nba-heaves-rule-change-2025-26\/","title":{"rendered":"No More Punishment for Buzzer-Beaters Gone Wrong in NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Starting next season, NBA box scores might look a bit different. Fans of the Boston Celtics love <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pritcpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Payton Pritchard<\/a> and his <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/29\/payton-pritchard-stats\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">halftime buzzer beaters<\/a>. Well, in 2025-26, he might be encouraged to take those shots even more.<\/p>\n<p>According to the latest reports, the NBA wants to change a rule so that end-of-quarter half-court shots, more popularly known as heaves, will not count towards a player&#8217;s field goal percentage, only the team&#8217;s. The subtle stat change might make life easier for players who love to shoot from half-court or even \u00be court.<\/p>\n<h2>No More Punishment for Buzzer-Beaters Gone Wrong in NBA<\/h2>\n<p>The latest report comes from ESPN&#8217;s Shams Charania, who revealed the NBA will implement a rule change that might encourage players to take desperation shots.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The NBA will implement a new change for the 2025-26 season: unsuccessful end-of-period heaves will now be recorded as a missed field-goal attempt for the team, not the player, sources tell ESPN. Those long heaves will no longer impact an individual player&#39;s percentages.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1965810884946841936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>That might encourage players to take even more long-range shots. The league tested the new rule during the Summer League in July. Now, it will head toward the official regular season.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Payton Pritchard half-court buzzer-beaters compilation  --- King of the half-court heave\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IdJTJDUxhEY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Steph Curry and Nikola Jokic Can Benefit from the New Rule<\/h3>\n<p>Here is an interesting stat. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steph Curry<\/a> has led the league in \u201cheaves\u201d attempted for five seasons. He even did it for three straight seasons, from 2014-15 to 2016-17. For the last two years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a> has earned that title. Curry also has the record for most <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Half-court_shot#:~:text=Based%20on%20official%20NBA%20court,and%20making%20two%20of%20them.\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">makes<\/a>, seven such shots.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Stephen Curry 3\/4 COURT Buzzer Beater vs Magic and acts so casual after\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XXlANnmhAZs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Last <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/leagues\/NBA_2025_shooting.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">season<\/a>, Jokic attempted 22 heaves and made only two of them. \u00a0That certainly hurt his field goal percentage. Given that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/31\/former-nuggets-player-demarcus-cousins-insane-claim-nikola-jokic\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Jokic often gets the ball in the last seconds<\/a>, we can assume many of those were desperation shots. Even with such attempts, he still shot 57.6% for the season.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_158499\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-158499\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-158499 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25796563_168402037_lowres-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"Mar 28, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) shoots a successful three point basket at the end of the second quarter against the Utah Jazz at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25796563_168402037_lowres-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25796563_168402037_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25796563_168402037_lowres-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25796563_168402037_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25796563_168402037_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25796563_168402037_lowres.jpg 1224w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-158499\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mar 28, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) shoots a successful three point basket at the end of the second quarter against the Utah Jazz at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Other players well-known for launching shots at the buzzer, sometimes just to try their luck, include <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lillada01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Damian Lillard<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/ballla01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LaMelo Ball<\/a>, and, before his retirement, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithjr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">JR Smith<\/a>. Fans who watched Smith\u2019s career remember him as one of the most frequent heave-shooters.<\/p>\n<h3>Players Want to Protect Their Field Goal Percentage<\/h3>\n<p>Many years ago, there was a story that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a> didn\u2019t want to attempt heaves. At the time, Scott Brooks was the coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and he encouraged players to take that last-second shot at halftime. If they make it, great; if not, so be it. At the time, KD gave his thoughts, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/blogs\/nba-ball-dont-lie\/kevin-durant-sometimes-doesn-t-want-chuck-low-220357263--nba.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">saying<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIt depends on what I\u2019m shooting from the field. First quarter, if I\u2019m 4-for-4, I let it go. Third quarter, if I\u2019m like 10-for-16 or 10-for-17, I might let it go. But if I\u2019m like 8-for-19, I\u2019m going to go ahead and dribble one more second and let that buzzer go off and then throw it up there. So it depends on how the game\u2019s going.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This might be the reason why for years, KD has been known as one of the most efficient scorers in the game. He is a career 50\/39\/88% shooter.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Peter Casey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Starting next season, NBA box scores might look a bit different. Fans of the Boston Celtics love Payton Pritchard and his halftime buzzer beaters. Well, in 2025-26, he might be encouraged to take those shots even more. According to the latest reports, the NBA wants to change a rule so that end-of-quarter half-court shots, more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":158498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,5,20,25,62,3],"tags":[187,1968,823,1133,72,2614,48],"class_list":["post-158486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-nuggets","category-warriors","category-nba","category-news","tag-damian-lillard","tag-jr-smith","tag-lamelo-ball","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-payton-pritchard","tag-stephen-curry"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158486"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158505,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158486\/revisions\/158505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}