Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo working on more 3s

The reigning league MVP appears set on improving his 3-point shot. Already a dominant force in the NBA, this would make Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks virtually unstoppable.

The Milwaukee Bucks are one of the NBA’s top franchises that didn’t need to do much improvement over the offseason. One of the things that could put them over the top, though, is the addition of a reliable 3-point shot for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

One of the few strategies teams can implement on defense in an effort to slow down Antetokounmpo is forcing him to settle for jump shots. If those shots are 3-pointers, it’s even better. A career 27.7 percent shooter from beyond the arc, the three-time All-Star simply has yet to develop a consistent 3-ball in his six years in the league.

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Coming into the league as a mid-first round pick from Greece in 2013, Antetokounmpo was an extremely raw prospect. Athleticism was his calling card — and not much else. Between the 2013-14 and 2017-18 seasons, the three-time All-NBA star attempted just 1.5 3s a game, hitting them at a 28.4 percent clip.

One of the worst 3-point shooters in the league, it was evident there was plenty of work left to do.

One promising stat is how frequently Antetokounmpo fired away from deep last season. 2.8 attempts per game may not sound like a lot but for someone whose career average is 1.7, it appears to be progress. The 2018-19 MVP wants that progress to become a norm in the near future:

The 24-year-old noted that being able to knock down 3s with consistency would make things a lot easier for not only himself but his teammates as well. Perhaps he learned a lesson from how he was defended by the Toronto Raptors in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals.

Although Antetokounmpo made a third of his attempts from deep, he jacked up 3.5 of them per game in that series. Whether this was a personal decision or a product of Toronto’s defensive scheme is up for interpretation, but his willingness to step out and try those shots was a plus.

Before that, Antetokounmpo showed signs of improving that shot over the course of the 2018-19 season. Shooting just 15.4 percent on 3s before the turn of the calendar, he was on pace for one of the worst single-season performances from range in NBA history.

After Jan. 1, though, Antetokounmpo converted on 40 of his 125 3-point attempts. Good for 32 percent, this figure is far from average, yet a marked improvement over what we’ve grown to understand is the norm for one of the game’s best players. With an offseason of work under his belt, expecting a full season of that efficiency wouldn’t be out of the question.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, soon to be 25 years old, is already one of the best players in the NBA. That’s without a reliable 3-point shot. If he can become even a mere threat to think about firing away from deep in 2019-20, he could be in for a second-straight MVP bid — and maybe even a trip to the NBA Finals.