Steph Curry shares candid assessment of NBA’s new lifting rule – NBC Sports Bay Area and California
Steph Curry may finally get what he wants during the 2025-26 NBA season.
The league’s new “Heave Rule” goes into effect this season, which states that any shot taken at least 36 feet away in the last three seconds of the first three quarters will count as a team shot attempt, not an individual one.
The goal is to encourage players to take more long-range shots late in the quarter without negatively impacting their personal shooting percentages. Curry, who has made plenty of such shots throughout his career, was on board.
“I was like the grumpy old man sitting on the porch yelling at people who didn’t take that shot because they were afraid of what it would do to their shooting percentage,” Curry said (h/t Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard).
Curry has no shortage of unimaginable half-court shots and now, with the new rule, he might have some competition.
The rule states that the play must be started in the backcourt for it to be applicable.
While Curry is a fan of half-court lifts, he acknowledged that the technical aspects of the new rule are a little too complex for his liking.
“It’s too much to think about,” he said. “Just play basketball.”
In 1,026 career games over 16 seasons with Golden State, Curry averaged 24.7 points on 47.1 percent shooting from the field and 42.3 percent from 3-point range.
It’s safe to say that his shooting percentages haven’t been hurt by his many, many long shots.
“I couldn’t care less,” Curry said. “I get, what? 10 extra field goals maybe over an entire season.”
Download and follow the Dubs Talk podcast