NBA · 2026-27 · Week 2
New Team, New Spots
Some of the league's biggest names changed teams. One week in, their shooting percentages are noise, but their shot maps already show their new roles.
How to read these: each number is a correlation, a score from 0 to 1.0 for how well a player's first 4 games predict the rest of his season. 0 means they tell you nothing; 1.0 means they predict it perfectly. Around 0.7 and up, early numbers are a good guide.
Where you shoot settles fast
Where a player shoots from is mostly decided before tip-off: by his role, the plays called for him and the players around him. Among the 156 players with 30+ shots in their first 4 games last season, the share of shots from each zone lined up with the rest of the season at 0.72 to 0.86. Whether those shots went in lined up at only 0.46.
So a week into the season, a new team's effect on a player's shot map is already visible, even if his percentages aren't telling you much yet.
Pick a player
Each map shows where one player's shots came from. Darker spots mean more of his shots. Last season is on the left; this season is on the right.
Shot map
2025-26
2026-27 so far
Thin bar: 2025-26 share of his shots. Thick bar: 2026-27 so far.
Share of field-goal attempts by zone (free throws not included).
Orange: a change bigger than normal week-1 wobble for that zone.
Light orange, "at the edge": at least 80% of the way there; probably real, not yet certain.
Source: NBA Stats API shot data.
Four new maps
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL to MIA) is getting to the rim less: 48% of his shots, down from 67%. Those shots moved to the rest of the paint (12% to 25%).
- Jaylen Brown (BOS to PHI) is attacking the rim more (22% to 40%) and taking more corner threes (3% to 14%), while above-the-break threes dropped (23% to 12%).
- LeBron James (LAL to PHI) has moved closer: 60% of his shots are at the rim, up from 37%, and his midrange share fell from 17% to 7%. His average shot is 8.3 feet from the hoop, down from 11.4.
- Norman Powell (MIA to CHI) has gone the other way: above-the-break threes are 56% of his shots, up from 39%.
Every mover, one number
Average shot distance sums up a shot map in one number: lower means closer to the rim. All 22 movers with enough shots, from last season to this one.
Average shot distance, 2025-26 to 2026-27 (feet)
Sorted by change. Hover or tap a player for details.
These are new roles, not final ones: coaches adjust, and lineups change with injuries. But shot maps settle quickly, so what you see here is a real first look.
Method
- Data: every shot location from the 2025-26 regular season and 2026-27 through Oct 27 (56 games), from the NBA Stats API via the open-source
nba_apiclient. - Zones use the NBA's shot-zone labels: Rim = restricted area; Paint = the rest of the lane; Midrange = other 2s; corner and above-break 3s. Shares are of field-goal attempts, from totals. Backcourt heaves are left out.
- Predictive test: 156 players with 40+ games and 30+ shots in their first 4 games of 2025-26; correlation between their first 4 games and games 5 to 82.
- Wobble: how far a player's zone shares over his first 4 games typically sit from his full season (standard deviation): rim 8, paint 6, midrange 5, corner 3 5, above-break 3 7 percentage points. A change more than twice that is shown in orange; one at least 80% of the way there is light orange, "at the edge".
- Who is shown: players on a new team with 200+ shots last season and 3+ games and 35+ shots this season. Maps bin shots into 1.5-foot hexagons.
- Limits: one season of history for the test; a week of shots this season (35 to 80 per player). The story describes where shots moved, not why.