The NBA made a pretty interesting rule change ahead of the 2025-26 season that may result in more half-court heaves than we’ve ever seen. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the NBA will implement a new change for the 2025-26 season: unsuccessful end-of-period heaves will now be recorded as a missed field-goal attempt for the team, not the player.
This change has been something that has been speculated for a long time, and now we finally see a change. It never really made sense why someone's shooting percentages should be affected by such a low success rate shot, which more often than not comes at the end of a period of play.
I guarantee we’ll be seeing guys like Payton Pritchard, who is known for his heaves, attempting more heaves than ever; the same thing goes for guys like Nikola Jokic and Coby white.
With this rule change, it’s funny to think about players in the past who could have benefited if this rule had been changed earlier. Someone like former Pelicans guard Devonte’ Graham, who was in some of our eyes a tank commander during the 2021-22 season.
The now 30-year-old is currently signed and playing for Crvena zvezda of the KSL in Serbia and hasn’t played NBA minutes since 2023-24, although he was in the G league last season. Graham was often labeled as an inefficient high-volume scoring guard, or in other words, a shot shucker—someone who might score 20 points but would take 20 shots to get there.
With his role being the shot chucker, he also ended up being a guy who would take the last shot before the end of a quarter. This resulted in him becoming one of the higher frequency half-court heavers, attempting 16 heaves in his career but only making one.
Who knows if this rule change was in place back then? Maybe his shooting splits would look better, and he would still be in the NBA and not the KSL.
Who should the Pelicans' go-to-guy be for a half-court shot this season?
The Pelicans have two good options when it comes to who their half-court heavers could be this season. Jordan Poole and Trey Murphy both have the shooting range to be threats from a deep distance.
However, I think I’d lean towards Poole; we’ve seen him be clutch with both the Wizards and Warriors, often hitting a circus shot, especially late in games. For that reason alone, I think he should be New Orleans go-to guy at the end of quarters.