Before asking how the NBA changed, we first ask what the court rewards. Expected value combines FG% × point value: the rim and threes become obvious targets, while many mid-range shots look expensive.
Once the value map was clear, shot selection started to move. Drag through the seasons to see the league trade mid-range attempts for shots at the rim and behind the arc.
Drag the season slider to watch the NBA shot map mutate after teams learned where the value was.
The league moved as a whole, but each team chose its own geometry. Compare any team-season with the league and that year’s champion to see who leaned hardest into rim pressure, corners, or above-the-break threes.
After teams changed the geometry, players became the faces of different shot economies. These fingerprints show where attempts come from, how efficient each area is, and how each player’s three-point diet evolved.
If teams have distinct shot identities, what happens when a star changes context? This view compares team stints to see which habits travel and which adapt to a new system.
At the end of games, strategy meets urgency. The heatmap compares where shots are taken in the last five seconds of Q4 against the rest of the game, then the scatterplot shows who actually converts those pressure attempts.