The Midrange Permission Slip starts where every clean NBA theory begins to wobble. Watch any playoff game long enough and the math breaks in real time. The ball stops moving. Corner shooters get hugged. The shot clock starts screaming. A star catches near the elbow, takes one hard dribble, and rises from a place the modern league spent a decade trying to erase.
For most players, that shot still gets them benched.
For the elite, it keeps the season alive.
The NBA has not gone back to the old world. Nobody smart wants a steady diet of early clock long twos. But the best playoff defenses do not give away rim attempts or rhythm threes in April. They shrink the lane. They chase shooters off the line, They force the ball into the gray area and ask one blunt question: do you have someone good enough to win there?
That question is why The Midrange Permission Slip still matters.
The shot the league tried to delete
The NBA spent years pushing the game toward the rim and the three point line. The logic made sense. Layups bend defenses. Threes change scoreboards. Free throws punish contact. Midrange jumpers, by comparison, sat in the least efficient neighborhood on the floor.
NBA.com’s 2024 to 25 shot location review showed the shift clearly. Midrange shots accounted for 9.8 percent of all field goal attempts, below 10 percent for the first time in the league’s shot location sample. Three point attempts climbed to 42.1 percent, the highest rate in the 46 seasons of the three point line, while paint attempts sat at 57.1 percent.
That is not a small trend. That is a league identity.
Still, the playoffs never obey clean charts. A perfect regular season possession can die in three seconds against a locked in switching defense. The first action gets jammed. The second action arrives late. The third option never opens. Now the star has the ball at 16 feet with a defender sitting on his hip and a big man waiting near the dotted line.
This is where The Midrange Permission Slip separates stars from scorers.
A role player cannot casually take that shot. A cold guard cannot float sideways from 14 feet with 15 seconds left and call it offense. But a superstar with balance, strength, footwork and nerve can make that same shot necessary.
NBA.com senior stats analyst John Schuhmann wrote in April 2025 that the midrange was not dead because, late in the clock, teams still need someone who can reach a spot and create a chance. His pull up two point table put the league average at 42.5 percent, which makes the stars living above 50 percent stand out even more.
That is the whole permission slip.
Not romance. Not nostalgia. Trust.
The gold standard for midrange masters
The Midrange Permission Slip belongs to players who meet three tests.
First, they must create the shot without a perfect pass. Second, they must punish elite coverage often enough to make defenses respect the threat. Third, they must carry the shot into high leverage possessions, where noise, fatigue and scouting reports turn every dribble into an argument.
This list is not about who takes the prettiest jumper. It is about who can take the shot the league discourages and make it a weapon rather than a compromise.
Some stars need the midrange because their team context demands it. Others use it because no coverage can erase their release point. The climb from 10 to 1 runs from necessity to inevitability.
10. Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic
Paolo Banchero lives in traffic because Orlando often gives him no other choice. The Magic play hard, defend with bite and lean into size, but their spacing can turn tight fast. NBA.com listed Orlando at 105.4 points per game in 2024 to 25, near the bottom of the league, and Banchero carried a heavy creation burden when the offense stalled.
That matters. Defenders can sit in his lap. Help can arrive early. The corner defender can take one extra step toward the paint without fearing instant punishment.
Even as a rookie, Banchero had a man’s strength. Now he uses it to carve space from the elbows and short wings. He bumps once, waits for the defender to lean, then rises before the second body fully arrives.
NBA.com’s player bio listed Banchero at 25.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 46 games during the 2024 to 25 season. It also noted that he joined LeBron James and Luka Doncic as one of three players 22 or younger with at least 4,000 points, 1,300 rebounds and 900 assists through his first three seasons.
That is why The Midrange Permission Slip fits him as both a projection and a necessity. Orlando does not need pretty bailout jumpers for show. It needs Banchero to turn clogged possessions into something sturdy.
9. Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Anthony Edwards built his public image above the rim. Fans remember the John Collins dunk because it had the violence of a car crash and the nerve of a dare. NBA.com called it a dunk of the year candidate after Edwards scored 32 points in Minnesota’s 114 to 104 win over Utah.
But the dunk is not the real playoff test.
The real test comes when the help defender waits early and the lane disappears before Edwards leaves the floor. That is when his hesitation pull up matters. It does not sell posters. It wins possessions.
The Wolves ask him to create through bodies, switches and late clock possessions. That burden changes the value of his jumper. When Edwards slows down, the whole defense gets uncomfortable. A defender expecting the first step has to sit lower. A big expecting the launch has to hesitate. That small pause creates the shot.
The Midrange Permission Slip is not Edwards’ natural home yet. His game still wants space, force and explosion. But every deep playoff run asks explosive stars to win one possession without exploding.
That is where his next level lives.
8. Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Devin Booker plays the midrange like a guard who grew up studying pace instead of just release. He does not rush into the shot. He walks defenders into it.
One screen gets him downhill. One snake dribble puts the big in retreat. One shoulder glance freezes the low man. Then Booker plants, lifts and fires before the contest can gather itself.
NBA.com’s April 2025 pull up shooting table credited Booker with 209 makes on 406 pull up two point attempts, a 51.5 percent mark. That is not just good for a jumper. That is the kind of number that changes what a coach can live with late in the clock.
Booker’s midrange carries memory, too. His 2021 playoff run gave a younger generation a clean model: get to your spot, stay balanced, do not let the defense rush your feet.
Phoenix has changed around him since then, sometimes awkwardly, but Booker’s in between game remains one of the few stable things in that offense.
The Midrange Permission Slip belongs to him because his shot rarely reads like panic. It reads like a possession reaching its final, most honest answer.
7. Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Jalen Brunson does not overpower the midrange. He negotiates with it.
The first bump matters. So does the second. Brunson uses his shoulder like punctuation. He gets a defender leaning, hides the ball on the gather, then rises from a pocket most guards never see.
NBA.com’s clutch award page noted that Brunson won the 2024 to 25 Clutch Player of the Year award before Shai Gilgeous Alexander won the 2025 to 26 honor. That context matters because Brunson’s late game value does not come from size or vertical burst. It comes from footwork and nerve.
Schuhmann’s 2024 to 25 pull up data had Brunson at 160 makes on 321 pull up two point attempts, a 49.8 percent mark. The number fits the film. Brunson turns crowded possessions into body control contests, and he wins a lot of them.
Madison Square Garden understands that style. It is not clean. It has elbows, It has patience, It has a little street corner stubbornness.
The Midrange Permission Slip works for Brunson because his shot comes from craft, not indulgence.
6. DeMar DeRozan, Sacramento Kings
DeMar DeRozan has spent half his career being told the league moved on without him. He kept walking to the elbows anyway.
That stubbornness became part skill, part cultural archive. Younger wings still treat a DeRozan matchup like a masterclass in how to bait a defender into a hip check at the elbows. He turns a defender’s balance against him. He holds the ball one beat longer than comfort allows. Then he steps into space that did not seem open a second earlier.
NBA.com’s 2024 to 25 season review noted that 14 teams had attempted fewer midrange shots than DeRozan’s 623 through that point of the season. That sentence almost reads like a dare.
DeRozan’s case also carries a warning. The Midrange Permission Slip cannot become a team philosophy by itself. His shot has value because he has spent years turning that area into a personal office.
Sacramento gave him a new stage, but the argument stayed the same. When the defense takes away the clean math, DeRozan still owns one of the few spots on the floor where he can slow the game down.
5. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Joel Embiid’s midrange jumper gives defenses a miserable choice. Crowd him and he drives through contact. Back up and he rises over the contest. Send help too early and he finds the next pass.
The shot also protects his body. Embiid cannot wrestle every possession into the restricted area over an 82 game season and a playoff run. The foul line jumper lets him punish defenders without turning every catch into a collision.
That is why his midrange matters differently from a guard’s. He is not using it to avoid size. He is using size to make the shot nearly unblockable.
The best Embiid possessions have a heavy rhythm. Catch. Face. Jab. One power dribble. Rise. No wasted movement. No sideways drift. When that shot falls, Philadelphia can run offense through him without asking every teammate to create an advantage first.
The Midrange Permission Slip fits Embiid because it expands the geometry around a center. Traditional bigs once lived at the rim. Stretch bigs moved to the arc. Embiid can bend both worlds, then stop at 15 feet and make a seven footer’s jumper feel like punishment.
4. Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
Nikola Jokić barely treats the midrange like a shot. He treats it like part of the pass.
That sounds strange until you watch Denver long enough. Jokić catches near the elbow and reads the whole floor. A cutter flashes. A corner shooter lifts. A defender turns his head. If the defense gives him the jumper, he floats it in before anyone can fully call it a mistake.
The shot has no drama. That is the point.
Jokić’s scoring volume never feels rushed because he does not separate scoring from processing. Every touch threatens a shot, a pass, a fake handoff, or some soft little push shot that leaves a center staring at his own feet.
That makes his Midrange Permission Slip unique. Kevin Durant shoots over you. Brunson works around you. DeRozan manipulates you. Jokić makes you confess what you are trying to hide.
If the big retreats, he shoots. If the low man steps up, he passes, If nobody moves, he waits.
Denver’s offense gets its calm from that exact threat.
3. Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers
Kawhi Leonard’s midrange game has no ornament. He does not dance for the camera. He gets to a spot and ends the conversation.
The 2019 Game 7 winner against Philadelphia still gives the shot its modern evidence. Four bounces. One frozen arena. A whole franchise holding its breath while a corner jumper decided a series. That play turned into mythology, but Kawhi’s permission did not come from one shot.
It came from years of making difficult 15 footers look routine.
His body control separates him. Kawhi absorbs contact through the chest, keeps his shoulders square and lifts without giving the defender a clean swipe. Smaller wings cannot bother the release. Bigger defenders cannot always stay attached through the first bump.
Health has complicated the story. Availability always shadows Kawhi analysis now. Still, when he plays, the shot profile remains playoff built. The Clippers can run late clock offense through a player who does not need the first option to work.
The Midrange Permission Slip works for Kawhi because his game strips the possession down to essentials.
Two dribbles. Strong hands. High release. Result.
2. Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns
Kevin Durant does not ask for The Midrange Permission Slip. He is the reason the league keeps printing it.
NBA.com’s April 2025 pull up table had Durant at 227 makes on 434 pull up two point attempts, a 52.3 percent mark. The same NBA.com breakdown noted that Durant’s 59.6 percent on pull up twos in 2022 to 23 stood as the best mark in 13 years of tracking for players with at least 100 attempts.
That is absurd shot making. It also explains why normal rules bend around him.
A good contest against Durant often turns into a hand near the ball, not on it. His release point lives above the regular game. Defenders can arrive on time, stay disciplined and still watch the shot clear their fingers.
Durant’s cultural legacy in the midrange runs through Oklahoma City, Golden State, Brooklyn and Phoenix. Different teammates. Different systems. Same answer.
When a possession loses shape, Durant can turn a difficult two into a good shot because his difficulty scale does not match everyone else’s.
The league did not delete this shot because of players like Durant. It deleted it for everyone who thought they were Durant.
1. Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Shai Gilgeous Alexander owns the cleanest modern case for The Midrange Permission Slip.
He does not use the shot as a throwback. He uses it as a business model.
NBA April 2025 pull up data listed Gilgeous Alexander at 253 makes on 501 pull up two point attempts, a 50.5 percent mark. That placed him in rare territory. The same NBA.com note said Chris Paul and Gilgeous Alexander accounted for the only cases in 12 years of tracking where a player shot at least 50 percent on 500 or more pull up two point attempts. Paul did it in 2013 to 14. Gilgeous Alexander did it in back to back seasons.
That is the stat that turns style into proof.
Then came the late game stamp. The NBA announced Gilgeous Alexander as the 2025 to 26 Kia NBA Clutch Player of the Year on April 21, 2026, after he led the league with 175 clutch points and added 21 clutch assists. Oklahoma City went 20 and 7 in the 27 clutch games he played, and the Thunder outscored opponents by 93 points in those situations with him on the floor.
The defender testimony matches the numbers. Thunder wing Alex Caruso told ESPN that people do not realize how strong Gilgeous Alexander is, especially when he reaches 10 feet, hits a defender with his shoulder and spins away. Caruso called it harder than people realize because SGA never seems rushed.
That is the helplessness of guarding him. He does not need to win with one burst, He changes speed, He stops early. He turns his shoulders, He lets defenders reach, then punishes the reach. His pull up two is not a backup plan. It is the threat that makes every drive harder to guard.
The Midrange Permission Slip belongs to him because he turned the forbidden shot into modern MVP language.
Not nostalgia. Not rebellion. Control.
The forbidden shot never left the playoffs
Do not mistake this for an apology tour. A panicked early clock floater remains a bad shot, and it will still get a role player benched. A long two with two open shooters waiting on the weak side still deserves a hard film room pause.
The point is narrower and more interesting.
The NBA did not kill the midrange. It raised the entry fee.
That fee now includes strength, footwork, touch, patience and enough proof to make a coach live with the result. It includes the ability to create late, when the first action dies and the crowd can feel the possession grinding down. It includes the discipline to know when the shot is a solution and when it is just a shortcut.
That is why The Midrange Permission Slip still shapes playoff basketball. The best teams chase the rim and the three for six months. Then April arrives, and some possession always ends with a star alone near the elbow, a defender balanced on the edge of panic, and four seconds left to find something real.
The math still matters.
The matchup matters more.
When the floor tightens and the easy stuff disappears, the forbidden shot becomes a mirror. It shows which stars have counters, which scorers need space, and which teams can survive when their system stops humming.
The Midrange Permission Slip is not permission to ignore analytics. It is permission to finish the possession after analytics helped build everything before it.
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FAQs
1. Why do NBA teams avoid midrange jumpers now?
A1. Most teams prefer layups, threes and free throws because they create better value. The midrange still matters when playoff defenses erase those options.
2. What is The Midrange Permission Slip?
A2. It means only certain stars have earned trust to take tough midrange shots when a possession breaks down.
3. Why is Shai Gilgeous Alexander ranked No. 1?
A3. SGA combines volume, touch and clutch scoring. His pull-up two became a real weapon, not just a bailout.
4. Is the midrange shot bad basketball?
A4. Not always. A rushed long two hurts an offense, but a balanced star jumper late in the clock can save a possession.
5. Which NBA stars still own the midrange?
A5. SGA, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Jalen Brunson and DeMar DeRozan all keep that shot alive in different ways.
