BOSTON – The National Basketball Association adopted the three-point line in June 1979 on a one-year trial. The distance was set at 23 feet nine inches from the basket and 22 feet in the corners. Chris Ford of the Boston Celtics made the first NBA three-pointer on October 12, 1979, against the Houston Rockets at Boston Garden. The shot appeared earlier in the American Basketball Association with a twenty-five-foot arc. When the ABA merged with the NBA, the line was not kept. It came back three years later.
Early use was slow. By the eighties, teams averaged fewer than three three-point attempts per game. The strategic shift sped up in the twenty-tens. The Houston Rockets, led by general manager Daryl Morey and coach Mike D’Antoni, pushed three-pointers and layups instead of mid-range jumpers. This style was called moreyball. By twenty-fifteen-sixteen, Golden State led the league with 31.6 attempts per game. Stephen Curry set the single-season record with four hundred two made three-pointers that year.
Two months into the twenty-twenty-four-twenty-five season, the three-point shot is more popular than ever. Teams average about 37.5 attempts per game, the highest ever and roughly 15 more than ten years ago. The Boston Celtics set a record pace at 51.1 per game, making up a majority of their total shot attempts. The reason is simple math: three is more than two. With more sharpshooters than ever, teams found the best way to score is to fire high volumes from distance.
Not everyone cheers the trend. Viewership has fallen 20 percent from last year across broadcast platforms, says Nielsen. Shaquille O’Neal said last month on his podcast that viewership is down because we are looking at the same thing and everybody is running the same plays. Former All-Star B.J. Armstrong said on The Hoop Genius Podcast that players play like robots running up and down the court. NBA commissioner Adam Silver blamed the drop on competition from the presidential election and World Series. Executive vice president Evan Wasch said survey data shows overwhelmingly positive support for current gameplay. Silver rejected O’Neal’s view saying he does not think it has anything to do with the three-point shot.
Ideas for change are floating. Moving the line back has happened before – the NBA went to a uniform 22 feet before the nineteen-ninety-four-ninety-five season, then went back to current dimensions before nineteen-ninety-seven-ninety-eight. A limit on three-point attempts per game has also gained support. Joe Dumars, executive vice president of basketball operations, says the shot is an equalizer for weaker teams and gives them a chance. The three-point era matched NBA revenue growth from about four hundred million dollars in nineteen-ninety to over ten billion dollars in twenty-twenty-two. International players made up twenty-five percent of opening-night rosters for twenty-twenty-two-twenty-three, up from under five percent in nineteen-ninety. Global viewership rose over three hundred percent between nineteen-ninety and twenty-twenty.
Sources
- Timeline: History of the NBA | Timetoast
- Is the NBA’s Three-Point Frenzy Sinking Ratings? | Vanity Fair
