Inside The Nets

Brooklyn Nets Stat of the Week: Ziaire Williams Gets Hot From Three

Ziaire Williams cashed in on a couple of threes in the Nets’ last game against the Mavericks.

Wilko Martinez Cachero

Mar 20, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Ziaire Williams (8) celebrates a made basket in the second half against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
Mar 20, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Ziaire Williams (8) celebrates a made basket in the second half against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images / Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
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Ziaire Williams’ 28 made threes in March so far mark the most outside shots he’s made in a month during his NBA career until now.

Williams was 2-for-5 from three, and 2-for-6 overall, in the Brooklyn Nets’ 120-101 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. His previous highest marks from deep at 25 and 23 made threes, respectively, had come in January and February of this year. The Nets swingman is shooting 37.3% from downtown and his 94 made threes this season represent a career-best. 

Previous to this season, Williams’ highest tally was as a rookie. Then, he made 76 of his 242 attempted threes while taking 3.9 per night. The former Stanford prospect is at 4.8 threes per game and 9.7 threes per 100 this season.

Williams’ 3-point shooting has sneakily become a storyline for the Nets’ end of the season. At the start of the month, he attempted a career-high 13 threes against the Oklahoma City Thunder. One game later, he only took two threes in a season-low 10:28 minutes on the court. Then, head coach Jordi Fernández said that there was “nothing wrong” with Williams, while the latter said he had “no idea” as to why his minutes had gone down.

Evidently, Fernández values 3-point shooting. He has mentioned this at various points throughout the season in different contexts, which is worth keeping in mind for future organizational and roster decisions. Fernández commented on French point guard Killian Hayes’ offensive balance when he was on a 10-day contract, for instance.

“Be aggressive […] to push the ball and and get more attempts, get to the rim [and] stay away from tough midrange shots, contested,” he said. “I need to see him letting [threes] fly.”

Williams isn’t the only Net whose shots from downtown are worth commenting on following Brooklyn’s last game. Nic Claxton made two threes against the Mavericks. 

Before Monday, the Brooklyn big was 4-for-35 from deep over the 303 games he’d played in his six years in the NBA. Claxton went 1-for-5 from three last season after going 0-for-2 in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons combined. He is now at 3-for-18 from beyond the arc this year.

Up next, the Nets host the Toronto Raptors at Barclays Center on Wednesday night. The Raptors are 25-47 after defeating the Washington Wizards on Monday. Brooklyn are coming off four straight losses.

Fernández is hoping for a response: “We just have to be better as a group. We’ve had different lineups out there throughout the whole year, and the guys have done a great job, so we should have been better.”

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Wilko Martinez Cachero
WILKO MARTINEZ CACHERO

Wilko is a journalist and producer from Madrid, Spain. He is also the founder of FLOOR and CEILING on YouTube, focusing on the NBA Draft and youth basketball.

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