NBA will test new halfcourt ‘heave’ rule that could help Payton Pritchard’s stats
Missed heaves will not count toward an individual player's field-goal percentage during this year's Summer League.
One aspect of Payton Pritchard’s game that has drawn admiration from coach Joe Mazzulla more than once is Pritchard’s willingness to take halfcourt heaves.
“You see guys around the league pass up on that shot or fake like they want to take it, so that their numbers don’t get messed up,” Mazzulla told reporters last year during the NBA Finals. “He takes pride in taking that, and that’s winning basketball.”
Those shots, while entertaining and sometimes impactful at the end of quarters, are low-percentage opportunities.
Half-court heaves are taken from far beyond the 3-point line, making them more difficult to hit than other 3-point attempts. However, they still affect a player’s 3-point percentage. The NBA is considering changing the rules about that.
On Saturday, the league announced that it will test a rule change on how half-court heaves are counted toward stats during the upcoming 2025 NBA Summer League.
During those games, a missed heave will count as a missed team field-goal attempt and will not count toward an individual player’s field-goal attempt stats.
The league listed three criteria for what counts as a heave as far as the new rule goes:
- The missed field goal was taken within the final three seconds of the first three quarters of a game.
- The missed field goal was taken beyond the edge of the center circle extended. The NBA estimates that the outer edge is approximately 36 feet out from the basket.
- The play the missed field-goal occurred on originated in the backcourt.
Pritchard has hit several memorable halfcourt heaves, including two during the Celtics’ 2024 championship run. According to The Athletic’s Jay King, Pritchard said players who are afraid to take heaves because of the impact on percentages are “soft.”
“Soft mentally. Worrying about a shooting percentage,” Pritchard said. “It’s very weak. You care about your individual shooting percentage more than winning. That’s so soft.”
Pritchard said last fall that he wants the league to look into making heaves worth four points, noting that he has seen leagues play with a 4-point line overseas.
The BIG3, a professional 3-on-3 basketball league co-founded by entertainment mogul Ice Cube, plays with three designated circles beyond the 3-point line and shots from the circles are worth four points.
It is unlikely that the NBA will implement 4-pointers anytime soon, but the league is doing it’s due diligence on making heave attempts less harmful to a player’s 3-point percentage.
Pritchard’s career 3-point shooting percentage, even with heaves included, is 39.9 percent. He shot 40.7 percent from beyond the arc last year, en route to winning the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
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