Colin Cowherd Unveils Plan to Fix NBA's Three-Pointer Problem

Over the past few weeks, there's been a widespread realization that NBA players shoot a lot of three-pointers, and there's been an increased urgency in regards to how to fix that problem—if it is, in fact, a problem. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said publicly that the league is studying the trend while smartly pointing out that the real issue may be that too many of the NBA's offenses are cut by the same cookie cutter.

Any potential solution will have to wait until next year and fans should brace themselves against seeing teams go 5-for-32 in losses like the Oklahoma City Thunder did Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks with the prestigious NBA Cup on the line. But Colin Cowherd is a forward thinker and he's already sketched out a back-of-the-napkin plan that could make the game a better entertainment product.

"I would move the three-point arc into the bench, eliminate the corner and move it back a foot," Cowherd said on his show Wednesday. "Make it part of the game, not the game."

"I would move the 3-point arc into the bench, eliminate the corner and move it back a foot. Make it part of the game, not the game."

— @ColinCowherd reveals his proposed NBA court change pic.twitter.com/7CrEvWzLEe
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) December 18, 2024

He also, in an inspired stroke of genius, pointed out that Michael Jordan's 1990-91 Chicago Bulls attempted 5.2 threes per game and this year's Bulls average 43.7 threes from long distance per contest. There is simply no rebuttal against "Michael Jordan didn't shoot many threes and he did O.K." Go ahead and try.

Cowherd is obviously not the first to suggest such revolutionary new geometry—And, he won't be the last. It's worth remembering, though, that any rule change in sports is a delicate dance—especially those that fundamentally butt up against the whole point of sports, which is to win the game in the name of entertainment experience. He mentions Major League Baseball outlawing the defensive shift as a case study and yet infield defensive alignment is simply nowhere near as intrinsic to the fabric of the game as the three-pointer has become. There's a very real risk that the resulting gameplay of closed-off corners would be worse, and then what?

The wheels of progress tend to move more slowly than the masses would like so the NBA probably won't look radically different next year with a new line. It's actually far more likely that everyone moves on from this issue and focuses on something else. But, it's always good to have an idea like this in the back pocket.