Kyle Kuzma recently made his way to the Philippines for his KuzManila 2024 Asia Tour and upon arrival, was asked about the big new change that has been made in basketball in the country. The Philippine Basketball Association has introduced a four-point shot and Kuzma stated he would like it if the NBA incorporated it as well.
“Yeah, 100%, I think it’s good for the game,” Kuzma said. “It allows more space. At the end of the day, a lot of us shoot deep threes anyway. It’s kind of a bad shoot if you take a deep shot that far because there’s really no need, the line’s right there.
“A lot of us can shoot from that far. I think it’ll be more dramatic in the NBA, and fans will probably like it, too,” Kuzma added. “And Steph would probably have a lot more points.”
I agree with Kuzma that Stephen Curry will score a lot more points if a four-point line is introduced. As for his point regarding fans liking it, I don’t think everyone will. The purists already dislike the three-point shot and they absolutely wouldn’t want to see a four-point one.
One man who certainly wouldn’t like it is San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. When speaking about how much harder it is to play defense in the league today, Popovich suggested the NBA introduce a four and five-point shot to create a real circus.
“I’ve said before I’m just hoping that the league ends up with a 4-point shot or a 5-point shot so we can make it a real circus. It’ll be a different sport. It won’t even be basketball, it’d just be a bunch of crap.”
Not all of the all-time great head coaches are against the idea, though. Back in 2016, Phil Jackson recommended that the NBA add a four-point line.
“Why not have a four-point line about 35 feet out? It wouldn’t be long before players will get reasonably comfortable shooting from out there. And having a four-point line would certainly serve to enable teams to catch up in what are now blowout games.”
The PBA has the line at 27 feet but Jackson suggested that it should be even further back. I think 35 might just be a bit too far away, though. There are probably only three players in the NBA who are somewhat comfortable letting it fly from that far, Curry, Damian Lillard, and Trae Young. In my opinion, 30 would be far enough.
While I wouldn’t mind the inclusion, I don’t think the NBA will go that route. Commissioner Adam Silver was asked back in 2019 whether we’ll ever see the four-point in the NBA and he didn’t think they would go that route.
“I think highly unlikely,” Silver said on Get Up. “I think there’s a Rock N’ Jock MTV aspect… We have mentioned it even in passing, it’s maybe something fun to try in All-Star and the reaction from the players has been incredibly negative. I think some fans might love it. So, I should never say never, but I think it’s unlikely.”
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Maybe if more players like Kuzma embrace the idea, the NBA might consider it. I don’t see it happening at any point in the near future, though, and there is no urgent need as such for such a big change either.
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