The NBL had sought to increase interest in its NBL Blitz tournament, scheduled for this week in Bendigo, by trialling the suite of rule tweaks at the pre-season matches. The timeline proved too tight however, given Basketball Australia\u2019s desire to include Fiba in the approvals process.<\/p>\n
The league remains keen to pursue the test in the future, which would provide elite basketball\u2019s biggest data collection exercise on levers some fans have long wanted pulled.<\/p>\n
The dunk is already a shot cherished by coaches because of its high probability of success. The rate of dunking has actually increased in the NBA in recent years \u2013 currently at around 6% of shots attempted \u2013 even though the rise of the three-pointer has defined this so-called analytics era of basketball.<\/p>\n
Despite the popularity of perimeter jump shooters like Steph Curry, this period of elite basketball has not been universally loved, and debate has erupted over the best version of the game.<\/p>\n
Golden State\u2019s Steph Curry shoots a three-pointer against the LA Clippers in January. Photograph: Juan Ocampo\/NBAE\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last year he wanted to address the rise of three-pointers \u2013 which now account for around 40% of shots in the competition, up from less than 10% in the early 1990s \u2013 without making \u201ckneejerk\u201d changes like moving back the three-point line.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I wish it was as simple as just moving the three-point line back, because then we would just do it,\u201d he told American broadcaster Colin Cowherd. \u201cPart of the concern from the basketball folks is that if you move the three-point line back, you\u2019ll end up just sort of clogging up the area under the basket, and that\u2019s not such attractive basketball either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such a radical change to dunk scoring is likely to result in a range of unintended consequences. Dunks are more common off turnovers, which may encourage teams to gamble on steals in a bid to generate more dunks. Three-point dunks might therefore encourage a more dynamic defence, but could also discourage risk-taking on offence.<\/p>\n
Incentivising dunks is also likely to further advantage genetically gifted taller players. Rather than high-leaping explosive guards, it is lumbering centres who tend to accumulate the most dunks, and rewarding their effectiveness may further disenfranchise undersized but skilful or athletic players.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Sport in Focus<\/p>\n Our picture editors select their favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown in<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Tristan Devers of the Brisbane Bullets dunks during an NBL game last year. Photograph: Matt Roberts\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The proposal from the NBL has been widely condemned by the basketball community on social media, including by South East Melbourne Phoenix owner Romie Chaudhari. But that sentiment was not universal.<\/p>\n Perth Wildcats owner Mark Arena \u2013 who, with Chaudhari, has been vocal in his criticism of the NBL\u2019s leadership \u2013 praised the NBL for its appetite for innovation. \u201cI think the Blitz is the perfect place to try new things,\u201d he said on X. \u201cSome may work and some may fail but you can\u2019t improve things without taking some risk. Personally I\u2019m a fan of giving a really long shot for four points a go.\u201d<\/p>\n Variations in rules already occur in global basketball. International competition governed by Fiba features 10-minute quarters rather than 12 minutes in the NBA, and uses a three-point line closer to the basket than that in the American league, as well as other discrepancies.<\/p>\n Since the advent of the three-point line in the 1960s, the core formula for the sport has largely remained the same, even if there are some differences around the world. The Philippines Basketball Association introduced a four-point arc<\/a> two years ago.<\/p>\n The NBL largely follows Fiba\u2019s rulebook, with minor differences around timeouts and coaches\u2019 challenges. The 2026-27 season starts next month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The slam dunk has long been a staple of basketball, its biggest billboard, showcasing the athleticism and ferocity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-874850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788168255_699_1008.jpg\")
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