Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the best players in the NBA today, but shooting continues to be a weakness of his. Despite that, Antetokounmpo says he could participate in the Three-Point Contest one day.
“Never say never. Because I really believe in my hard work. I believe I work my butt off. You never know man. Maybe when I’m old and I can’t move the same, and I can’t go through people and get into the paint — maybe I start shooting more 3s. Maybe I start shooting more 3s and my percentage goes up. It’s kind of hard to shoot a lot of 3s, when you can get into the paint and shoot 75% in the paint. Your mind doesn’t let you. But maybe in the future, I’ll do it, when I’m 36, 37 or 38.”
Giannis is not ruling out competing in the 3PT contest in the future
“Never say never. Because I really believe in my hard work. I believe I work my butt off. You never know man. Maybe when I’m old and I can’t move the same, and I can’t go through people and get into the paint… pic.twitter.com/U8Pyh7OLtd
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 15, 2024
A subtle flex there from Antetokounmpo on not needing to shoot many threes when you’re hitting 75% of your shots in the paint as he does. While Giannis has a great work ethic, I’m not sure he’s ever going to be a good enough shooter to participate in the contest at any point. A look at his three-point shooting stats for his career shows just how much he has struggled with that outside shot.
2013-14 season: 34.7% on 1.5 attempts per game
2014-15 season: 15.9% on 0.5 attempts per game
2015-16 season: 25.7% on 1.4 attempts per game
2016-17 season: 27.2% on 2.3 attempts per game
2017-18 season: 30.7% on 1.9 attempts per game
2018-19 season: 25.6% on 2.8 attempts per game
2019-20 season: 30.4% on 4.7 attempts per game
2020-21 season: 30.3% on 3.6 attempts per game
2021-22 season: 29.3% on 3.6 attempts per game
2022-23 season: 27.5% on 2.7 attempts per game
2023-24 season: 25.5% on 1.7 attempts per game
Antetokounmpo’s attempts per game and shooting percentages have gone down in recent years. Also, his rookie season aside, the 29-year-old has never managed to even shoot above 31.0% from the field in a single campaign.
Some players just can’t shoot well no matter how hard they work at it and I think Giannis, who is averaging 30.8 points, 11.2 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game this season, falls into that category. It is why I believe Antetokounmpo made a great decision to train with Hakeem Olajuwon this past offseason.
He may never become a greater shooter, but if he can develop a good low-post game, Antetokoumpo can still be very effective on the court as he gets older. We have seen freakishly athletic players in the past not focus on other aspects of the game, and they fall off quickly as they age. Giannis clearly intends not to go down that path.
If Antetokounmpo ever does insist on taking part in the three-point contest, though, the eight-time All-Star might set the record for fewest points in the competition’s history. The lowest points tally to be recorded in any round as of now is five, with that unwanted record jointly held by Detlef Schrempf (1988) and Michael Jordan (1990).
Jordan was just not a great three-point shooter, and taking part in the competition was a big mistake on his part, as I think it would be for Antetokounmpo.
He should just let the elite shooters get to work in the contest, like his Milwaukee Bucks teammate Damian Lillard, who is set to take part in this year’s competition. Lillard is the reigning champion and will be up against Tyrese Haliburton, Trae Young, Malik Beasley, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Lauri Markkanen, and Donovan Mitchell.
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