The final buzzer of the first three quarters of an NBA game will be more exciting in the upcoming 2025-26 season. On Wednesday, September 10, the NBA announced that long end-of-quarter heaves will no longer count against a player’s field goal percentage. There are those who have been opposed to but Dallas Mavericks’ minority owner, Mark Cuban is not one of them. If anything, he’s been rooting for it for a long time.
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One of the minor aspects of the NBA, which drove fans crazy, was players refusing to attempt a last-second shot before the end of a quarter. Many superstars worried more about their statistics than about potentially converting on a momentum-shifting play.
Of course, Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic is one of the few exceptions. The three-time MVP couldn’t care less about his field goal percentage, which has resulted in some incredible shots from three-quarters court. Fans have urged players to be more like Jokic; now, this new rule change should guide players in that direction.
Mark Cuban, who recently appeared on the Road Trippin podcast, shared his opinion after host Allie Clifton asked the panellists what they thought of it.
“I like it, because it drove me nuts that guys wouldn’t shoot it,” Cuban said. “You’ve got to throw that thing.”
It seems crazy to think that players would turn down an opportunity to put more points on the board. For a casual fan, it seems like a no-brainer, but when analyzed deeper, it becomes apparent why many players have been reluctant to let it fly.
Many NBA contracts have incentives for players to receive additional bonuses on top of their guaranteed money. For some players, that could come from reaching a certain threshold in any given statistic.
Take former NBA player Mo Harkless for example. In the 2016-17 season, Harkless had a bonus clause with the Portland Trail Blazers stating that if he averaged 35% from three-point range, he would earn $500,000. With three games remaining in the season, Harkless was exactly at 35%. He didn’t attempt another three for the rest of the season.
So, the fact that players will shoot these shots more is a good thing. However, many people, including Richard Jefferson, don’t like how the NBA had to enforce this rule to spark this change. “We’re making it easier and softer,” Jefferson said.
The NBA champion has not been rather vocal about this for sometime now. Even when the news first broke, he took to X to share his initial thoughts and he wasn’t particularly shy about calling it as he saw fit.
“This is cowardly! We don’t want it to count towards your percentage unless you make it. You want the positive without the potential for negative,” Jefferson said in a post.
Every single time the NBA comes up with a change in rule, it comes with its own set of supporters and detractors and that is unlikely to change any time soon. In this particular case, Cuban does have a point, it will make the game better. That said, it’s not an organic change and takes away the risk factor involved, which is basically a cop out to make players more comfortable.
