It was not until 1979 that the NBA introduced the three-point line as a groundbreaking innovation. Legends like Magic Johnson & Larry Bird were still in their rookie year, and few players were keen on relying too much on those shots.

However, the meteoric rise of these deep-range bombs after Steph Curry and his game-changing success has led to a whole new debate. 

In the recent All-Star game, the world saw how Steph and Damian Lillard use those long-range missiles to kill Team Durant. This has led to a complete revamp of how the players train and execute their field goals today, making the game more about 3-pointers than anything else. 

What can the league do to put a check on this?

If the new-age players continue to over-utilize these long-range buckets, the future of basketball can see a cut-off from its past. To ensure this does not happen, an American TV host and a keen follower of sports, Mike Greenberg, has come up with a solution.

The 53-YO expressed in an interview, “The answer to this is so simple. Move the line back, just move it out. The shot is just much too easy. So long as teams comfortably hit 30% of their shots, they’ll never stop. Push the line back, get that number into the 20s. The moment that the first digit on that shot is a two, instead of a three, they will stop doing it.”

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He rebutted the other idea that the league can enforce a specific number of attempts that a team can take from behind the arc. That would be like schooling with the teams and motivating them to at least try to reach those permissible numbers.

So, rather than adding to the complexity, Mike simply suggested relocating the line that is currently marked at 22-feet (corner). 

NBA Analyst Questions Steph Curry’s Shooting Ability During Most Important Games of his Career

Why is this debate so important, but not as important to Steph Curry and other greats?

First and foremost, the placing of the line at 24/25 feet might not worry players like Steph Curry and Dame. They can still score from the mid-court and stay above 30% shooting. So, their data will still allow them to rule and make as many attempts.

Also, it was the former GM of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey, who introduced the value of data analytics in the NBA. He helped James Harden and the team to understand how taking the three-point shots was a win-win in the mathematical aspect. 

The math went like this. Consider that a player shoots at 40% from the corner and worse than 60% from just four feet away from the bucket. Now, he can make 120 points per 100 possessions from downtown as opposed to much below that from the paint. This can be killing data for the big players who dominate the rim.

Just as Mike rightly put, “geniuses like Daryl Morey aren’t trying to make game boring, they’re trying to win. They need to make this change because this is not what the game was intended to be. It is an impediment to the watchability of it. It has changed too many things about it fundamentally and has taken too many players out of the game, i.e. big men their value has diminished to next to nothing. And the biggest one they have to take away is the corner three. They’re shooting 40% from corner threes.”

With data suggesting more and more players taking the easy way out, the game can soon become a 3-point contest that the Currys can keep winning. Do you think it’d be fair to push back the line? Help us know in the comments.