Ian Mahinmi shows that you can teach an old dog new tricks with his three point shot

Ian Mahinmi hasn’t had the best two-year stretch of any Wizards player. In the 2016-17 season, he missed most of the season due to injuries. And in the 2017-18 season, Mahinmi fouled a lot. In fact, he averaged 7.2 fouls per 36 minutes, the second most in his career.

During the offseason, Mahinmi worked on his three point shooting which he discussed to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post last week, saying that it was another weapon in his arsenal, even though three point shooting isn’t a top priority.

That said, Mahinmi made no hesitation to show his range in practice:

During Monday’s 124-121 loss to the Knicks, Mahinmi scored 8 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and made one three point shot in 18 minutes.

What’s even better than Mahinmi’s three? He only fouled once in the entire game.

Mahinmi is not going to be a stretch-five. His strengths are defending in the low post and hopefully, he keeps the fouling down like he did on Monday. But in today’s era where three-point shooting is more valued than ever, it’s still important for a traditional center like Mahinmi to be able to make that long range shot if and when that moment comes.