DALLAS — Two months after being selected third overall in the 2018 draft, Luka Doncic flew to the Bay Area for a private workout with Stephen Curry. There, Doncic was exposed to the work Curry puts into honing his skills.

“He does things you can’t guard,” Doncic told reporters last season. “It’s just nuts what he does.”

More than a year later, after winning rookie of the year in his first season with the Dallas Mavericks, Doncic had the ball in his hands with less than 30 seconds left in a two-point game against the San Antonio Spurs. Doncic squared up his defender and pulled up from 29 feet for a game-clinching 3-pointer. On his feet: a pair of neon green Curry 7s.

Luka steps back for 42 PTS ‼️ pic.twitter.com/7GwOmnJQaS — NBA (@NBA) November 19, 2019

Despite missing most of the season with a broken hand, Curry’s influence on a generation of young players continues to be seen across the NBA. Curry’s audacity to pull up from several feet behind the 3-point line has made the extended 3-pointer a required shot in the toolbox of the league’s most prodigious shooters.

“I think Steph has definitely influenced a whole generation of young players,” coach Steve Kerr said. “Guys are shooting from much further out than ever before. You can see when they’re entering the league, it’s no big deal for guys to shoot from three or four feet from beyond the line.”

Like Curry, Doncic has made the extended 3-pointer part of his repertoire. For opponents, it’s a telltale sign that Doncic is feeling the hot hand. After attempting 32 shots from at least 30 feet last season, Doncic has already shot 11 this season — on pace to surpass the 61 Curry attempted last season.

But perhaps no player embodies Curry’s influence more than Doncic’s fellow 2018 draft selection Trae Young, who studied Curry’s games via NBA League Pass while in high school near Oklahoma City.

Young’s small stature draws comparisons to Curry, and he aims to mimic Curry’s shooting brilliance, especially from deep. As a rookie for the Atlanta Hawks, Young surpassed Curry in 30-foot shots attempted. This season, he has taken the second-most such shots, one spot ahead of Doncic.

Trae Young is not interested in Jamal Murray’s defense pic.twitter.com/OJieeIQmgA — Leigh Ellis (@LeighEllis) November 13, 2019

Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, an Oakland native two years younger than Curry, has also been more willing to launch from audacious limits. Not even a quarter through the season, Lillard currently has 21 shots from behind 30 feet, nearly half of what he had all of last season.

The inflection point was Curry’s 2015-16 season, when he made 47 percent of a league-leading 45 shots attempted from at least 30 feet from the basket en route to being named the first-ever unanimous MVP. The next closest in such attempts that season was Lillard, with 16. Since then, the number of extended 3-pointers has steadily risen.

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Curry again led the league the next season with 54, but Lillard narrowed the gap with 30 of his own. Two years later, with Curry and Lillard still trending as the league’s preeminent deep shot takers (including Lillard’s epic clincher against OKC in the playoffs, below), rookies Young and Doncic kept pace, with Young taking the most shots from at least 30 feet ever recorded in a single season.

The extended 3-pointer isn’t solely about a player flexing his talents, it also helps a team’s spacing. Since Curry’s shooting helped propel the Warriors to three championships, teams have strategically adopted theoretical lines beyond that of the 3-point arc 24 feet away from the basket.

Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer has specific zones beyond the 3-point line where players are instructed to stand while spacing the floor for forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Before the season, the Mavericks invested in more floor spacers with which to surround Doncic by signing guard Seth Curry and trading for forward Kristaps Porzingis.

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Warriors at No. 2: Breaking down how LaMelo Ball’s passing genius would fit Golden State “I don’t think there’s any question that Steph Curry has had a major impact on the overall game,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “The trend of the game now to create more space is to shoot from further out. It’s become a fact of life.

“Steph’s a big part of it. (Kevin) Durant’s a big part of it. Klay Thompson is certainly a big part of it. (James) Harden is a big part of it, and Luka is a big part of it now, too. But I do believe that Steph’s had an influence on that, for sure.”

The league was already trending toward players taking more 3-pointers, but Curry was the first to make the extended 3-pointer a strategic part of his game.

Like in 1954 when Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile, runners were already running faster, but his milestone broke a barrier that led to an influx of sub-four minute sprints. Curry’s style, confidence and efficiency undoubtedly had an influence on young people watching on television and, eventually, playing in the NBA.

Like it did Wednesday, as Doncic scored 35 points on 10-of-18 shooting (6-of-10 from 3-point range) in 26 minutes to hand the Warriors their worst loss in nearly 50 years, Curry’s influence may have indirectly made things more difficult for the team he’ll eventually return to.

“It’s a common theme these days in the NBA. It seems like everybody has got a guy who can get 40 on any night,” Kerr said. “The way the rules are, the way the 3-point shot is featured, games are high scoring. So we’ve got to contend with a lot of great players.”