Carter shook his head in disbelief. "Back in our day, shots like that were unimaginable. When I was learning to play basketball, my coach wouldn't let us casually shoot threes. Unless we were completely wide open, we weren't allowed to take one."
"Later, when I first came to the NBA, three-pointers weren't very popular. A lot of people looked down on them. But some coaches had already started letting good three-point shooters take them freely, like Reggie Miller."
"Then came Stephen Curry. During his peak seasons, he had the green light to shoot whenever he wanted, and his range covered the entire half court. What's more, despite taking a huge number of threes, his Three-point Percentage stayed around 42% year after year. That was terrifying."
"Then came Wang Yi. He could pull up for a three from the center circle, and he could even shoot from anywhere in the backcourt. The scariest part was that in his peak seasons, he could hit backcourt threes at a 45% clip—better than other Three-point Shooters could manage from the frontcourt."
"That forced NBA President Xiao Hua to change the rules. Backcourt threes were allowed only in the final 30 seconds of the first three quarters, and only in the final two minutes of the fourth."
"During the two years after Wang Yi retired, the rule was scrapped. Then, in his second season back, it was immediately reinstated. You could say the rule was made specifically for him, which is why it was called the Wang Yi Rule."
"When the league makes a rule specifically for a player, it means that player has reached a level in that area that nobody else can match."
At that point, LeBron James sighed. "If—I mean, if—Wang Yi put all his effort into shooting threes, it's hard to