Phil Jackson breaks silence on 15-year issue with NBA’s rules

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Phil Jackson breaks silence on 15-year issue with NBA’s rules

Tomer Azarly, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Tue, Apr 28, 2026 ·

3 min read

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Phil Jackson breaks silence on 15-year issue with NBA’s rules appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

The NBA has really taken on a new look over the last decade as the three-point shot continues to revolutionize the game. Teams are putting up more three-pointers than ever before, making it a simple math equation given the simple fact that three points are worth more than two.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr recently spoke with the New Yorker in a wide-ranging exclusive interview following the end of his team’s season. In it, he discusses a number of things, including his relationship with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green as well as his view of world politics.

One of the most interesting takeaways from the interview, however, is that Steve Kerr claims he would consider getting rid of the three-point line entirely.

“I would never do a four-point play, Kerr told the New Yorker. “In fact, I would even consider getting rid of the three-point line. I just think that the game, as it was designed, is really to create the best shots possible. That’s why in the early days, you just throw it inside to the big guy.

“A three-point line came from the ABA, in 1979, and I think it was really effective. It makes for an exciting play, but the analytics revolution has created a weird situation where we all know exactly where the highest efficiency shots are: layups and corner threes because the corner three is 22 feet and not 23.9 feet, like the up above the break. You have this whole no man’s land between those areas. So if you [take] a twenty-two-footer now from the top of the key, that’s considered a really bad shot. I just wonder—and I don’t know if this would work or not—if we got rid of the three-point line, if it would diversify the way everybody would play and create a lot of different creative solutions to basketball.”

The corner three-point shot is considered one of the most efficient shots in basketball, as Kerr noted, because of how much closer it is to the basket. It’s a problem that, apparently, Phil Jackson took real issue with.

The legendary Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers head coach has been enjoying retirement for the last decade, but recently came out and spoken about his issue with three-point line.

“15 years I’ve been asking the NBA rules committee to widen the court apron. Corner shot b-comes 23.9,” Jackson said .

Changing the width of the NBA basketball court would obviously mean significant changes for the league with shot-making efficiency as well as some changes to teams’ arenas when it comes to setting up seats for fans.

At this point, there’s no reason to believe the NBA will ever change the three-point line to become an even 23.9 feet all around, but it is interesting to hear that the former Lakers and Bulls coach Phil Jackson spent a significant chunk of his career trying to get the NBA Competition Committee to change the distance of the corner three-point line.

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