The NBA front office, led by Commissioner Adam Silver, may have a problem on its hands in the form of the rapidly increasing reliance on the three point shot that virtually every team in the NBA is adopting. The reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics are launching over 50 three pointers a night throughout their first stretch of the 2024-25 NBA season, and it's quickly becoming apparent that the only way to stay competitive in today's league is to let it fly from beyond the arc.
While that may be a smart strategy, it doesn't necessarily make for the best viewing product, and recently, Hall of Fame center Shaquille O'Neal took to his own “Big Podcast with Shaq” to relay his concerns.
“We’re looking at the same thing. Everybody is running the same plays,” said O'Neal, adding that the monotonous style of play is making the game “boring.”
Now, Silver is firing back at the TNT host.
“There was so much diversity in Shaqi’s game, I can’t believe he said that,” Silver said at the Paley Center for Media‘s International Council Summit, per Dade Hayes of Deadline.
However, Silver didn't close the door on potentially looking for ways to diversify the styles of offense in the league.
“…People say it’s all about these highly skilled shooters. … We’ve moved the 3-point line before back a little to make 3-point shooting more difficult. We could do that again,” said Silver. “I’m not saying that’s on the table. This is a good opportunity this season as we’re about to enter into three 11-year television deals to step back and study the game a bit. … Our game has never been more popular. I’m not saying there aren’t things we could do. … There is something to what he’s saying. No one would want to see every team play the same offense.”
Does the NBA have a problem?
There's no denying that the immense skill of players coming up in today's NBA makes it so that it is well worth it to shoot high volumes of three pointers, even at the expense of some high flying transition dunks and other signature plays that fans may be used to.
One suggestion that has been floated is to make three pointers worth four points and two pointers worth three, which would decrease the relative value of outside shots, but of course, this would complicate things like scoring records, making it an unlikely alternative for the league to take.
In any case, Silver and company will surely be forced to act at some point as calls for change grow louder.
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