Top 100 momentsNo. 49
The NBA adds the 3
The league paints an arc. For years it is a gimmick. Then it becomes the math that rearranges every offense on earth.
The ABA had the 3. The NBA adopts it for 1979-80. Early on it is a trick for specialists. Coaches still want the midrange. The arc sits there, waiting for someone to trust the calculator.
Decades later the calculator wins. Morey, Kerr, a generation of shooters, a collapsed paint. Youth gyms measure the same line. A made 3 is no longer a surprise; it is the plan.
Few rule tweaks have done more to change how a sport looks. The 3-point line is a piece of paint that ate the jump hook.