EDIT: under 3-5 seconds, good conversations and call-outs!

As far as entertainment, a made half-court shot is about as entertaining as it gets in basketball. It doesn’t matter what level of play, if a half-court shot is made in game it almost always get screen time in “top 10 plays” for daily sports shows.

With the rise in 3-point shooting and players getting heavily critiqued/compensated on their 3-point shooting performance, there’s begun a movement of sorts to “sandbag” half-court shots as to not negatively impact their 3-point shooting percentage. What I mean by this is essentially (at the professional level), is guys purposefully letting the clock run-out right before they fire up the shot, preventing them from likely getting a “missed” 3-point attempt.

It started at first as a little subtle, players would make it seem like they were going to take the shot only to do it right after they hear the buzzer - giving the illusion of an actual attempt. Now its become more blatant, where players won’t even try it and just let the clock run-out.

You would think that NBA front offices would easily be able to separate half-court shots out of a players shot chart to properly weigh their 3 point shooting ability… and they probably do. That said, Fan voting and Media attention are superficial with numbers and are not going to separate them out… so it’s easy to see why player would rather not deal with the high percentage missed shot attempt.

The NBA should change this. Don’t punish a player for taking a very exciting, but super low-chance shot. Under 30 3-5 seconds of any quarter, make half-court shots an “non-official shot” unless the basket is made. I think you’d instantly increase the half court shots attempted, which in return would increase the odds of seeing more of these exciting and entertaining shots being made.