When the defending champion Boston Celtics fired up 61 3-pointers on opening night against the New York Knicks, tying the second-most attempts in a regulation NBA game, the result went beyond a nationally televised blowout.
It sparked a seasonlong conversation about how many 3-pointers are too many. It's not just Boston. After leveling out around 35 3-point attempts per game the past five years, already an increase of more than 50% from what we saw a decade ago (22.4 per game), the rate of long-distance attempts has gone up to 37.5 so far in 2024-25.