Fadeaway

A fadeaway or fall-away in basketball is a jump shot taken while jumping backwards, away from the basket. The goal is to create space between the shooter and the defender, making the shot much harder to block.

The shooter must have very good accuracy (much higher than when releasing a regular jump shot) and must use more strength (to counteract the backwards momentum) in a relatively short amount of time. Also, because the movement is away from the basket, the shooter has less chance to grab their own rebound.

Because the shooting percentage is lower in fadeaway (because of the difficulty of the shot) and because it’s harder for the shooter to get their own rebound, many coaches and players believe it is one of the worst shots in the game to take. However, once mastered, it is one of the hardest methods of shooting for defenders to block. The threat of a fadeaway forces a defender to jump into the shooter, and with a pump fake, the shooter can easily get a foul on the defender.

Examples of how Fadeaway is used in commentary: Jordan receives the ball in the post with his back to the basket and immediately pulls up a fadeaway jumper, banking the ball into the basket.