It’s that time again, when the sun blazes, rookies chase dreams, and fans get their first whiff of what might be the future of the league. The NBA Summer League is back. From the California Classic to the electric Las Vegas showdowns, this year’s iteration brings more than just fresh faces and flashy dunks. It brings change. Let’s back up a bit. Because the seeds of this change weren’t planted in Vegas or Salt Lake City. They were planted in the mind of The King himself, LeBron James.

In the thick of conversations with Steve Nash and on his Mind the Game podcast, LeBron James opened up about what FIBA’s version of basketball gets right. And how the NBA could benefit from some of that flavor. Faster pace, more urgency, with less fluff. And crucially, a willingness to test new ideas before putting them on prime time. “There’s some things that we could possibly just tinker with maybe in the G League and the Summer League and see how it looks,” LeBron prayed. Adam Silver, always an ear-to-the-ground commissioner, took note.

The G League has long been the NBA’s lab for experimental rule changes, from target score overtimes to the single free-throw system. But LeBron’s call gave that strategy a superstar stamp of approval. And the league wasted no time putting it to use. Here is the big twist: it just got officially implemented across all 2025 Summer Leagues: unsuccessful end-of-period “heave” shots will no longer count against a player’s individual shooting percentage, as long as they meet specific criteria.

Straight from the NBA Communications Twitter post, the change applies when all of the following criteria are met:

• The missed field goal attempt took place within the final three seconds of the first three periods of a game.
• The missed field goal attempt was shot from beyond the outer edge of the center circle extended (approximately 36 feet from the basket), as shown below.
• The play originated in the backcourt.

And Trevor Lane from the Lakers Nation? He’s here for it. “Love this rule. No more taking an extra dribble so the clock expires before shooting,” he tweeted. This refers to the shady tactic where players would intentionally stall rather than toss a long bomb and risk hurting their stats. This change flips that logic on its head. No more stat-padding silence.

Players now have every reason to actually take the shot, and fans just might be rewarded with more buzzer-beater magic. And this isn’t just any random change in the Summer league by Adam Silver, but a subtle yet seismic tweak that could ripple into the NBA’s regular season sooner than you think.

Why does this rule matter?

The rise of the three-point shot has turned shooting percentages into gospel. Every missed shot gets dissected like a Game of Thrones subplot. So it’s no surprise that many players, afraid of that ugly “0-for-1” mark on their box score, often opted not to take those final-second flings. As Celtics guard Payton Pritchard put it bluntly: “Soft mentally. Worrying about a shooting percentage. It’s very weak.” That mentality robbed fans of drama. It distorted stats and dulled the edge of what should be chaotic, anything-goes moments. Now?

Players are encouraged to go full Steph Curry from half-court without consequence. And let’s not ignore the deeper strategy here. This isn’t about just one rule. It’s about creating a league that is not afraid to experiment. It’s about listening to players. About giving the game back its spontaneity. And it’s exactly the kind of change that can only happen in a proving ground like the Summer League, just like LeBron envisioned.

While the NBA hasn’t confirmed whether this stat tweak will bleed into the regular season, the writing’s on the wall. The G League tested it, and the Summer League adopted it. And if the numbers and fan reactions look good, which they likely will, the 2025–26 season could mark a permanent change. This is an evolution in real-time.

Adam Silver’s NBA is clearly listening to players, fans, and yes, to LeBron James. And with Bronny James potentially dancing between the G League and Lakers minutes this season, the ripple effects hit home for the James family, too.