MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
When the NBA starts back up next month, the last few seconds of any given period might have a little more of this.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #1: It's quickly into Luka (ph), and he got it away from about 40 feet.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #2: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #1: He made it. He made it.
UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #2: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #1: He made it.
UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #3: Jalen Smith. He'll have to launch it from half court.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #4: Oh.
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #5: Butler bounces. Curry - oh, ridiculous.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #5: A cheat code.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The NBA is changing a rule for the upcoming season. At the end of the first, second and third quarters, desperation shots at the buzzer from way far away - at least 36 feet from the basket - will no longer count against an individual player's shooting statistics. The responses to this news have been mixed and honest.
JASON GAY: I mean, my question is, can something be smart and lame at the same time? It feels like another example of, like, post-millennial grade inflation here. You know, the idea of consequence-free half-court heaving.
KELLY: That is sports columnist Jason Gay with the Wall Street Journal. He says, for years, it was rumored that players wouldn't take those Hail Mary shots because the likely outcome was a miss, which would hurt their shooting percentages. And having good stats - it's not just an ego thing.
GAY: The NBA - we hear this often, this cliche - it's a make-or-miss league. And it's also a make-or-miss contract, increasingly. If you hit those shots, if you have that 40%-plus three-point contracts, that's often the difference between a livelihood and not in the NBA.
SUMMERS: At least part of this conversation was kicked off by the heroics of a backup point guard in Boston.
GAY: Look no further than the mania around the Boston Celtics' Payton Pritchard, who I think is the reigning king of the half court to three-quarter shot.
SUMMERS: In last year's NBA finals, Pritchard sank two last-second shots from deep downtown.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #6: Missed free throw. Four for the rebound (ph). Here's Pritchard. He loves these. Puts it up, half-court at the buzzer.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #6: Bang. He's done it again.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR #6: They put him in for these situations. No hesitation.
KELLY: Now, according to Sportradar, players only made about 4% - 4% - of these end-of-quarter heaves last season. But the Wall Street Journal's Jason Gay speculated this rule change might even spur teams to draw up plays for very long-range jump shots.
GAY: You know, maybe we are ushering in an era of the specialist, you know? What if we're starting - we start to cultivate these ringers who can come in and hit 70-foot shots? I mean, how wild would that be?
KELLY: Pretty wild - wild enough for, I don't know, four points, if you ask me. Although, Juana, I will note that under these rules, Steph Curry already made four such half-court heaves last season alone. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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