Giannis Antetokounmpo is shooting well from the three-point line right now although on low volume. The Milwaukee Bucks superstar, currently the league’s leading scorer at 33.4 points per game, only takes 1.6 attempt from the beyond the arc per game.
There was a time though that he was taking double of those shots. What changed? The Greek Freak thinks it is his former Jason Kidd.
The Bucks and the Dallas Mavericks met on Sunday and one moment that stuck with reporters and fans is when Antetokounmpo hit a three-point shot to give his team the 105-102 lead and then looked at his former coach.
GIANNIS THREE BALL. pic.twitter.com/CvEF1ZtgBG
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 11, 2025
That was Antetokounmpo’s one of two attempts in the game but it got their team back the momentum they had a hard time getting. Bucks won, 116-114.
When asked about the stare at Kidd, the Greek Freak jokingly said that it was to remind him that how he took that shot away from him.
“That was for him. When I was younger, he told me not to shoot threes. I was like 19, 20, he told me not to shoot threes,” Antetokounmpo said while smiling.
“Figure out a way to find angles and facilitate for your teammates, post up. He helped me a lot, but I think he took away from my game when I was younger because I wasn’t able to develop that as fast as I would. So when I made it, I said ‘That’s for you, for all the torture you put me through.’”
Giannis Antetokounmpo shows love to Kidd
Antetokounmpo is obviously joking. He found his strength and eventually became a dominant frontcourt player to the point that Shaquille O’Neal, regarded as The Most Dominant One, thinks the Bucks franchise player is better than him.
The Greek Freak may have lost his three but he gained more and he has Kidd to thank for that.
“Helped me a lot. One of my mentors, still talk to him to this day,” he continued.
“Just to look out for me and tell me, this is what you gotta look out for, this is how you got to work in order for you to be great, this is how you gotta think about if you want to carry a team. I think it’s big.”
He then segued to say that Mavs’ top pick Cooper Flagg is in a great place under his tutelage.
“Just being able to have a guy like that next to you, it’s a blessing. You saw what he was able to do with (guard) Luka (Dončić)… I think it’s gonna be the same with Cooper. It was the same for me.”
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