The 3-point shot is at the center of a huge storm in the NBA right now.
3-pointers are at record-highs but television ratings are way down and many believe there’s a direct correlation between the two.
Fans believe the prevalence of the trey ball has actively harmed the modern NBA and made the league ‘unwatchable’.
The Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls recently combined to miss a staggering 75 three-pointers, tied for most in a regulation-length game in NBA history after the same two teams set the same record only weeks ago.
This time, the Bulls went 10-43 (23.3 percent), missing 33 three-point attempts, whereas the Hornets went 18-60 (30.0 percent), missing 42 three-point attempts.
The ‘you shoot, we shoot’ philosophy from 3-point land has become a painful watch, and a major reason why viewership for the entire NBA is down almost 50 percent since 2012.
“We gotta do something,” LeBron James recently said. “Our game is… It’s a lot of f****** threes being shot. So it’s a bigger conversation than just the All-Star Game.”
Steph Curry is responsible for the evolution of the 3-ball more than anyone else in NBA history.
The Golden State Warriors marksman is the all-time leader in 3-pointers made and the consensus greatest shooter of all time. His ability to pull up from anywhere on the court and drill 3s has fundamentally changed the way basketball is both viewed and played.
However, ‘Chef Curry’ isn’t about to change his ways anytime soon.
Amid the blowback about the volume of 3s currently being taken, Curry has come out swinging, defending his reliance on the shot while insisting he’s going to continue to shoot the rock from deep.
The four-time NBA champion pointed to the dominance of big men and that he doesn’t have the same athletic abilities to drive to rim, so he doesn’t feel like he should give up the one advantage he has over many other players.
“Everybody has their opinion,” Curry said.
“It’s not like I can go out there and do a 360 windmill, drive down, and maybe dunk on somebody. For me, I’m never going to fight three-point shots. That’s just how I’ve seen the game forever.”
“Certain skill-sets that started coming into the league. You see how many bigs are dominating down in the post. It’s like either extreme, and the cool part is that defenses adjust, and it just takes time for that to happen. So we’ll see where that goes. I’m going to keep shooting threes, so don’t worry about that.”
Curry’s response comes after resurfaced Michael Jordan footage showed the basketball GOAT explaining why he didn’t shoot a lot of 3s.
MJ warned against becoming lazy and too over-reliant on the shot at the detriment of other aspects of his game.
Jordan‘s message is apt for about 99 percent of the modern NBA.
However, Curry is perhaps the one active star who’s earned the right to have a constant green light when it comes to shooting from beyond the arc.
The problem isn’t the Splash Brother, rather the hundreds of other players who want to be like him without having the same shooting touch.
But even Curry is taking less 3s than usual.
This season, Curry is attempting 10.5 threes per game and making 40.1 percent of them.
At one point in his career (2020-21), he was averaging 12.7 three-point attempts per game. In fact, this is the lowest amount of 3-pointers Curry has attempted per game since his injury-ridden 2019-20 season when he attempted just 9.8 threes per game.
If Steph Curry can recognize 3s are getting out of hand and is taking steps to find higher percentage shots, hopefully the rest of the league can follow suit.
After all, nobody wants to see 75 missed 3s per game.