SAN DIEGO — Nikola Jokic lets other people worry about his stats for him.
Like his brother Nemanja, who delivered him the news of a particularly novel NBA rule change this offseason.
The “heave rule,” colloquially.
“My brother is very happy about it,” Jokic said, grinning.
It will impact him more than any other player in the league on paper, and less than any other in spirit. Unsuccessful end-of-quarter heaves will no longer be counted as a missed field goal attempt for the player, the NBA announced in September, hoping to incentivize players to shoot them more often without worrying about their individual stats. In a business where percentages can be weaponized in contract negotiations, the rule’s intended effect is to liberate the players.
And to fish for clout online.
The league expects an uptick in the number of shots taken from behind half-court — which should also mean an uptick in the number of miraculous buzzer-beaters eager to go viral. One of Jokic’s two successful full-court heaves last year was the fifth-most viewed play of the entire regular season across NBA social and digital platforms, with 37 million views.
The NBA wants more people to be like Jokic.
“I think it’s good,” he said as the Nuggets convened for training camp this week. “Because maybe players are gonna shoot more shots, and there’s gonna be more highlight plays.”
Jokic claims to have no emotional investment in his stats and has shown a tendency to reject questions from reporters about his own accolades. That characteristic has worked to the Nuggets’ advantage; he scored six points in 2024-25 on shots that most NBA players wouldn’t have attempted. His fearlessness even extended into creative curiosity when he instructed Peyton Watson to lob him an inbound pass with 0.3 seconds remaining in a quarter, allowing him to slap the ball out of the air for an 80-foot tip attempt.
Needless to say, his opinion on the rule change is important.
He was more amused by his brother’s take instead.
“He tells me to not shoot those,” Jokic said.
And like any irritating younger brother, Jokic doesn’t listen. He shot 22 of them last season, an all-time record, according to Basketball Reference, and 10 more than the next closest player in 2024-25 (Mikal Bridges).
Jokic shot 41.7% from 3-point range — a career year in that department. Under the new rule, his clip would have been over 44%.
“I have mixed feelings on that (rule change),” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “I’ve seen guys for years purposely shoot it after the clock’s over. So I actually think it’s kind of cool. I also think it’s a great example of how lazy we’ve gotten, where we don’t realize that sometimes the percentages don’t tell the whole story. I coached Jeff Green in Orlando one year, and the amount of grenades he had to shoot because young guys wouldn’t shoot at the end of the shot clock — I think Jeff ended up at like 30% from 3.
“Everybody said, ‘Oh, Jeff Green can’t shoot.’ No, it was because he was unselfish, and he just fired. So I see it both ways. But for Nikola, it’s great. Now he can just go ahead and do what he wants to do with it. Which he was doing anyway.”
Missing a heave won’t harm an individual’s shooting percentage, but it will still count as a field goal attempt for the team. The criteria: any shot taken from 36 feet or deeper, in the final three seconds of the first three quarters, on a play that started in the backcourt.
Time to start practicing the heaves at training camp?
Not exactly.
“Just imagine someone throwing heaves on the practice (court),” Jokic said. “You cannot practice that, I think.”
Then he paused to rethink that statement.
“Luka (Doncic) is practicing,” he finished, “definitely.”
Nuggets training camp injuries
Jokic spoke to reporters on Tuesday with his right wrist wrapped up in a bag of ice. He said it’s the same minor off-and-on injury that he has been dealing with for about six years, describing it as bothersome on some random days and unproblematic on others. He wasn’t limited in practice.
The Nuggets played live for about “95%” of their first practice as a team, according to Adelman. The physicality was so high that on the first play of camp, Julian Strawther lost his fake tooth and two-way wing Spencer Jones suffered an injury that required stitches.
“I told Spencer, ‘You were really impactful. You played one possession,’” an unconcerned Adelman said. “But we know what Spence is. That’s what he brings. He’s extremely physical. He’s a guy that fits today’s NBA. I think if he stays with it, he’ll get an opportunity, because I really mean it, his type of game is gonna translate in the league now. … The guys were so excited to play. I felt like an NFL coach. Like, ‘Just walk it out. Let’s go to the other half-court so we can keep going.’”
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