If past trends with superstar players hold, Giannis Antetokounmpo could be in for a career year from 3-point range at some point during his time with the Miami Heat.
That's because both LeBron James and Jimmy Butler had the best 3-point shooting years of their career when they were with the Heat. LeBron shot a career-high 41 percent from deep during the 2012-13 season, while Jimmy shot 41 percent from 3 during the 2023-24 season.
It may be a much taller task for Giannis, who has shot sub-30 percent from 3-point range in eight of his 13 years in the NBA thus far, but there is a trend that does point to a promising year coming from 3-point range.
Heat trends point to Giannis having a strong year shooting from 3-point range
Honestly, it's a difficult trend to explain, but whether it's the coaching staff getting players into their comfort zones on the floor or perhaps just something in the water in Miami, it's difficult to argue with the results.
At the very least, it will be an interesting storyline to follow heading into Giannis' first season with the Heat. Theoretically speaking, you'd expect things to go one of two ways for Giannis in Miami.
With the way this coaching staff likes to operate, I'd imagine Spoelstra is going to want to put Giannis in a position to succeed from 3-point range, which could mean cutting down on his attempts from deep.
Giannis is already one of the more efficient star players in the league, but Spoelstra could look to maximize that even further by cutting his 3-point opportunities. Over the last three years, Giannis' 3-point attempts have stumbled all the way down to 1.3 per game last season.
There's a chance that could fall even further, especially if Spoelstra wants Giannis to remain focused on paint offense.
Alternatively, it wouldn't be surprising if we see Giannis' attempts jump back up to 2-3 per game. Considering how much he's going to have the ball in his hands, that's a possibility as well. Especially if Spoelstra is trying to find other ways to create even more spacing next to Bam Adebayo.
And if this somewhat unexplainable 3-point trend does continue with Giannis, we could very well see him have as close to a career year from deep within the next few seasons.
If that were to happen, it'd just make Giannis that much more unguardable for the rest of the league.
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