One of the centerpiece discussions in the basketball universe in recent years has been the 3-point line. Is it good or bad for the NBA?
There’s no denying that 3-point shooting has exploded in the last 15 years. Teams have gone from averaging barely double-digit attempts in a game to comfortably hitting north of 15 every night.
For a lot of the old heads, that’s a problem. For younger fans, more 3s, more entertainment.
For Larry Bird, one of the game’s greatest shooters of all time, it’s not an issue of whether high 3-point shooting volume is; it is about if the league is at a point where it may need to make a change.
Larry Bird Shares Thoughts on 3-Point Shooting, Offers Idea
GettyLarry Bird of the Boston Celtics.
Bird, a three-time league MVP and on most fans’ top 10 all time players list, deserves to talk about how the game is being impacted by 3-point shooting all he wants. This was the same bloke who won a 3-point shooting contest without bothering to take off his warm up jacket. (YouTube it, youngsters!)
With the boom in long-range shooting continuing, Bird suggests the NBA may have to consider pushing back the 3-point line.
“If we start to get guys shooting 40-50 percent (from the 3-point line), multiple guys year after year, and you see centers shooting 40-50 percent, yeah, they’ll probably have to do something,” Bird said in an interview with NBA Europe. “But right now, we’re not there.”
Let’s take it by the numbers.
In 2010, the league had some snipers: Ray Allen, Kyle Korver, Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki, to name a few. It’s not like there were guys capable of cashing seven or eight 3-points in a game.
According to Basketball Reference, in the 2010-11 season, teams averaged 6.5 3-pointers made per game. Compare that to the 13.3 3s per game teams made in the 2024-25 season. But the more eye-popping comparison is the difference in attempts per game. In the 2010-11 season, teams tried 18 3s per contest. In the 2024-25 season, that number ballooned to 37.6 attempted 3s per game.
Imagine what the comparison between the 2025-26 season and, say, the 2040-41 season might look like?
Bird: One of Elite Marksmen of His Time
So, the kids might be asking who this “Larry Bird” guy is? Of course, fans who closely follow the game have heard of the name, but the respect factor might be lacking.
Well, you youngsters, Bird was his generation’s Michael Jordan (or LeBron James). Only the Showtime Lakers with Magic Johnson were the reason why Bird didn’t rattle off six or more championships. He also might’ve left the game a bit sooner than he would’ve liked because of a bad back problem.
Bird wasn’t shooting the 11 3s per game like Stephen Curry is today. Because that’s not what the NBA called for back then. Those were the days coaches would give players that stare if they tried one ill-advised shot, much less that step-back from 39 feet that barely makes us blink nowadays.
Will the NBA move back the 3-point line? Will it add a four-point?
Considering the direction the game is headed, Bird’s suggestion isn’t at all nonsensical.
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