NBA fans call out irony of Steve Kerr’s proposed 3-point rule change

Steve Kerr appears ready to walk away the Golden State Warriors, and has floated a landscape-shifting rule change on his way out.

The NBA legend, who was a five-time champion as a player before winning four more titles as a coach, is said to be ‘leaning towards leaving’ the Bay.

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Golden State struggled to a 37-45 finish this season, and missed the playoffs after an 111-96 play-in loss to the Phoenix Suns.

Following that game, Kerr refused to clarify if his 12-year tenure as Warriors head coach will continue.

“It might still go on. It may not,” he said after the game.

And as he potentially prepares for what comes next, Kerr has been reflecting on his career and the game of basketball as a whole.

Steve Kerr proposes radical NBA rule change

In an interview with The New Yorker, published over the weekend, the nine-time NBA champion admitted that he would consider removing the 3-point shot to make a more creative sport.

Such a suggestion is ironic, considering Kerr is regarded as one of the most accurate three-point shooters in The Association’s history, and he still holds the record for highest career 3-point percentage to this day.

Not to mention Kerr’s Warriors and shooting extraordinaires Steph Curry and Klay Thompson won four titles together by raining down 3s better than any team in the history of the league.

When the idea of adding a four-point play to an ever-evolving sport was pitched by writer Charles Bethea, Kerr suggested he would never back something like that, and revealed why the NBA could have outgrown the three-point line.

“I just think that the game, as it was designed, is really to create the best shots possible,” he said.

“That’s why in the early days, you just throw it inside to the big guy.

“A three-point line came from the ABA (American Basketball Association), in 1979, and I think it was really effective.

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“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, like the up above the break.

“You have this whole no man’s land between those areas. So if you shoot a 22-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.”

While Kerr could potentially lobby for the change post-Warriors, he admitted there’s one reason he hasn’t yet proposed the idea to ‘anyone with power’ inside the NBA — his love for Curry.

“It’s too out there,” he said of his proposal.

“And plus, I coach Steph Curry, so I’d rather wait till Steph’s retired. I think there’s great coaches, and there’s a lot of creativity, but I wonder if the game would get more creative if we got rid of the three-point line.”

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Under Kerr’s eye, the Warriors led a 3-point revolution in the NBA, which changed the way the game was played.

Curry and Thompson played together from 2011 to 2024 in Golden State, and became known as the ‘Splash Brothers’.

Considered one of the greatest backcourts of all time, they combined to set various NBA records for three-point field goals by a pair of teammates, and each won the Three-Point Contest.

Under Kerr, they helped the Warriors win the 2015 NBA Finals for the team’s first title in 40 years, and later repeated that triumph in 2017, 2018, and 2022.

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To hear Kerr call for an end to shooting threes is very surprising, and his suggestion quickly split opinion on social media.

NBA fans react to Steve Kerr calling to get rid of 3-point line

“Easy to say AFTER you reaped the rewards of having the two best 3-point shooters ever…” one wrote on X.

“This would make a lot of players worthless, people literally make their money shooting from the 3-point line, it’s not going anywhere,” another said.

“Dude would have never been in the NBA or a coach without that line,” a third wrote.

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Others, though, saw the vision.

“I feel the 3-point line should carry it’s curve to the sidelines, eliminating corner threes,” one suggested, backing his idea.

“Even Steve Kerr is tired of the 3-point circus,” another said.

“For the first time in a long while I agree with Steve Kerr. Grown man basketball will come back again if the NBA gets rid of the 3-point line,” a third wrote.

Kerr is yet to reveal if he will really walk away from the Warriors this year.

But should he do so, expect him to have a close eye on the rest of Curry’s career — and once that’s done, the legendary coach could be the driving force behind a huge NBA rule change.

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