How We Count Heaves
NBA Heaves tracks NBA field-goal attempts from 36 feet or farther, dating back to the 2003–04 season.
Here’s what counts, where the data comes from, and how I handle the weird ones.
What counts
A heave is a recorded field-goal attempt from 36+ feet. Makes and misses both count.
The 36-foot cutoff matches the distance used in the NBA’s 2025–26 heave rule, but NBA Heaves uses a broader definition. The NBA rule applies only to certain shots at the end of quarters. This site counts every recorded attempt from 36+ feet.
Where the data comes from
Regular-season data from 2003–04 through 2024–25 comes from NBA shot logs compiled by @DomSamangy. For those seasons, the rule is straightforward: if the source records a field-goal attempt from 36+ feet, it counts.
Beginning in 2025–26, NBA Heaves uses NBA and ESPN play-by-play to identify heaves, including shots affected by the NBA’s new rule. Records from the two feeds are matched by game, quarter, clock, player, result, team, and distance.
Each heave is tied to a player, team, opponent, game, quarter, clock, distance, and result. NBA video is linked when available.
Playoff and play-in heaves are tracked separately on the Playoffs page. Unless noted otherwise, league records, player totals, and historical trends refer to the regular season.
When the sources disagree
For 2025–26 and beyond, NBA and ESPN do not always describe the same play exactly the same way. The clock, distance, wording, or player attached to a play can differ.
Matching starts with the game, quarter, and clock, then checks the shooter, team, result, and distance.
For distance, I use the official NBA shot distance when available. Play-by-play descriptions can fill gaps. Court coordinates are a last resort.
Methods
Most of the judgment calls come from 2025–26 and beyond, when multiple feeds have to be combined. That can mean duplicate records, slightly different distances, corrected plays, or messy end-of-quarter sequences.
The basic rule is simple: use the official record when there is one, and use the surrounding evidence when there isn’t.
Historical seasons are simpler. NBA Heaves treats the 2003–04 through 2024–25 source files as the underlying record rather than independently re-vetting every shot.
Corrections
This is a maintained database, not a frozen archive. A total can change if a better underlying record turns up.
See something wrong? . I’ll check it against the game record before changing the data.
A few limitations
Shot distance is whatever the source recorded. A listed 36-footer means 36 feet in the data, not that somebody got out a tape measure.
The historical and current-season data also come from different systems. Historical files include court-zone information that makes halfcourt classification possible; equivalent halfcourt tagging is not consistently available beginning in 2025–26.
For leaguewide trend charts, the shortened 2011–12, 2019–20, and 2020–21 seasons are prorated to 82 games so seasons can be compared. Individual heaves are never prorated.
And one important distinction: NBA Heaves is not an official NBA statistic. It is an independent database built from NBA data, ESPN play-by-play, and the underlying game records.