The three-point shot was introduced in the NBA in 1979. For better perspective, that's Larry Bird's rookie season. Back then it was just a gimmick, and the league just averaged 2.8 attempts per game. Fast forward to 2020, and James Harden alone averaged 12.4 per game. The average of the entire league is now ballooned to 34.13 points per game. To say that the game is changed, is an understatement. Rise of Small Ball In the first 50 years of the NBA, only 3 men 6 foot 3 are smaller on the MVP award. But just in the last 10 years, 3 more guys won the award. Not a whopping number, sure, but the ratio of MVP winners by height is a lot more even now. Thanks in part to some key rule changes. Gone are the days of the hulking big men who ruled over the paint and dominated games from inside. In fact, in 2016, Steph Curry, all 6 foot 3 and 185 pounds of him won the first ever unanimous MVP award, not by dunking over his peers, but rather by raining down bombs from long range. The 3 point shot was more than instrumental, and propelled Steph in the Warriors to 3 championships and 5 final appearances in 5 years. Ever since they first won the chip in 2015, league average of 3's attempted, jumped from 22.4 to 34.1 today, and for good reason. 3 point efficiency Aside from lay ups and dunks, the 3 point shot is the next best shot to take in basketball. The numbers don't lie. To prove this, let's use the statistic of points per shot, or PPS for short. PPS is the evaluation metric, where the field goal is multiplied by its point value, and is then divided by the number of attempts. For example, now let's filter this per location. As seen in this graph for the 2019-2020 NBA season, the league average PPS for 3 pointers is 1.07. Compare that to the PPS for the mid-range, that is 0.8. So if a team takes 100 shots from 3, they'd have scored 107 points, compared to the measly 80 points they get from 100 mid-range shots. 107 is a lot greater than 80, so even if you do shoot slightly better for mid-range, the difference in point value is monumental. You surely have taken notice, a shot selection is drastically changed. Over the past 20 years, the rate of mid-range and 3 point shots have actually inverted. The NBA used to shoot 38% of their total shots from mid-range, but now is going down to 13%. On the flip side, 3 points shooting is shot up from 17%, all the way up to 38% in today's game. So yes, the game has indeed changed. The 3 point shot is here, and based on the numbers, looks like it's here to stay. Nowadays, range is king, and do anyone hating on the fact that we're shooting too many threes? Just learn to love it, I guess. Thanks for watching, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. This is Info Manic, and I'll see you guys next time.