Remove ads
The Three-Point Contest[1] is a National Basketball Association (NBA) contest held on the Saturday before the annual All-Star Game as part of All-Star weekend.
The 2019 iteration of the contest involved ten participants. From its introduction in 1986 to 2018, eight participants were selected to participate in each season's shootout. In 2002–2003 to 2012-2013 there were six participants. Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks is the most recent winner of the event which was held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Remove ads
In this contest, participants attempt to make as many three-point field goals as possible from five positions behind the three-point line in one minute. Players begin shooting from one corner of the court, and move from station to station along the three-point arc until they reach the other corner.[2] At each shooting station is a rack with five basketballs. Out of the five balls, four are worth one point (the standard orange Wilson game balls) and the fifth one (a red/white/blue ABA-style ball; often nicknamed the "money ball")[3][4] is worth two points. The goal of this contest is to score as many points as possible within one minute. A perfect score used to be 30 points.[5][6] Since the 2014 contest, a rack consisting only of "money balls" has been added, and can be placed on any of the 5 spots of the player's choice, bringing up the maximum possible score to 34 points.[7] In the 2020 contest, two additional Mountain Dew shots were placed on each side of the top of the key, worth three points each. This increased the maximum possible score to 40, and the time limit was increased from 60 to 70 seconds.[8]
In the qualifying round, each player has a chance to score as many points as possible. The three players with the top scores advance to the finals. The final round is played in the same way as the qualifying round, but players shoot according to the ascending order of their first-round scores. In each round, the shots and the score are confirmed by the referee and the television instant replay system.[4][9] The final round will be shot in reverse direction (left to right corner for a left-handed shooter and vice versa). In the case of a tie, multiple extra rounds of 30 seconds (1 minute in the final) are played to determine the winner.
Remove ads
- Larry Bird, the inaugural winner of this contest, and Craig Hodges have each won three consecutive times, while Mark Price, Jeff Hornacek, Peja Stojaković, Jason Kapono, and Damian Lillard have each won two consecutive times.
- Craig Hodges and Jason Kapono hold the record for most shots made in one round (21/25, .840 percentage), Craig Hodges also holds the records of most consecutive shots made (19), most appearances (8), and most points (25 out of a possible 30 points, .833 percentage)
- Detlef Schrempf and Michael Jordan share the record for the fewest points scored in any round with five in 1988 and 1990, respectively.[10]
- Kyrie Irving is the youngest player to win the contest at the age of 20.
- Rimas Kurtinaitis is the only non-NBA player to participate in the contest.
- Dirk Nowitzki and Karl-Anthony Towns are the only 7-foot players to win the contest.
- Damian Lillard is the most recent player with consecutive titles.
Remove ads
| Rank | Player | Times |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Larry Bird | 3 |
| Craig Hodges | 3 | |
| 3 | Peja Stojaković | 2 |
| Jeff Hornacek | 2 | |
| Mark Price | 2 | |
| Jason Kapono | 2 | |
| Stephen Curry | 2 | |
| Damian Lillard | 2 |
| ^ | Denotes players who are still active |
| * | Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame |
| Player (#) | Denotes the number of times the player has won |
| Team (#) | Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won |
| Location (#) | Denotes the number of times a location has hosted the competition |
Three Point Contest champions by franchise
| No. | Franchise | Last win |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Miami Heat | 2011 |
| 4 | Boston Celtics | 2010 |
| 4 | Chicago Bulls | 1997 |
| 3 | Golden State Warriors | 2021 |
| 3 | Sacramento Kings | 2020 |
| 3 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 2013 |
| 2 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 2022 |
| 2 | Phoenix Suns | 2018 |
| 2 | Utah Jazz | 2000 |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | 2024 |
| 1 | Portland Trail Blazers | 2023 |
| 1 | Brooklyn Nets | 2019 |
| 1 | Houston Rockets | 2017 |
| 1 | San Antonio Spurs | 2014 |
| 1 | Toronto Raptors | 2008 |
| 1 | Dallas Mavericks | 2006 |
| 1 | Denver Nuggets | 2004 |
| 1 | Washington Bullets | 1996 |
| 1 | Seattle SuperSonics | 1989 |
Remove ads
| Player (in bold text) |
Indicates the winner of the contest |
| Player (#) | Denotes the number of times the player has been in the contest |
Remove ads
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Remove ads
| Season | Sponsor |
|---|---|
| 1985–86 | American Airlines |
| 1986–87 | American Airlines, Sheraton |
| 1987–88 | American Airlines, Sheraton |
| 1988–89 | American Airlines, Sheraton |
| 1989–90 | American Airlines, Sheraton |
| 1990–91 | American Airlines, Sheraton |
| 1991–92 | American Airlines, Sheraton |
| 1992–93 | American Airlines, Sheraton |
| 1993–94 | AT&T |
| 1994–95 | AT&T |
| 1993–94 | AT&T |
| 1994–95 | AT&T |
| 1995–96 | AT&T |
| 1996–97 | AT&T |
| 1997–98 | AT&T |
| 1998–99 | AT&T |
| 1999–2000 | AT&T |
| 2000–01 | 1-800-CALL-ATT |
| 2000–01 | 1-800-CALL-ATT |
| 2001–02 | 1-800-CALL-ATT |
| 2002–03 | 1-800-CALL-ATT |
| 2003–04 | Footlocker |
| 2004–05 | Footlocker |
| 2005–06 | Footlocker |
| 2006–07 | Footlocker |
| 2007–08 | Footlocker |
| 2008–09 | Footlocker |
| 2009–10 | Footlocker |
| 2010–11 | Footlocker |
| 2011–12 | Footlocker |
| 2012–13 | Footlocker |
| 2013–14 | Footlocker |
| 2014–15 | Footlocker |
| 2015–16 | Footlocker |
| 2016–17 | JBL |
| 2017–18 | JBL |
| 2018–19 | Mountain Dew |
| 2019–20 | Mountain Dew |
| 2020–21 | Mountain Dew |
| 2021–22 | Mountain Dew |
| 2022–23 | Starry |
| 2023–24 | Starry |
Remove ads
In the 2024 three-point contest, fans expressed dissatisfaction with referees for permitting participants, notably Karl-Anthony Towns, to shoot while their feet were on the line.[15]
Remove ads
- a The 1999 All-Star Game was cancelled due to the 1998–99 NBA lockout.
- b Denote contests that required a tiebreaking round. The final score given here came from the tiebreaker.[16]
- c Starting with the 2014 Three-Point Contest, the format includes four extra "money balls".
- d Starting with the 2020 Three-Point Contest, the format includes two extra long-range shots, worth three points each.
- e CJ McCollum was named as a replacement to Chris Bosh due to the latter being unable to participate in the event with a calf injury (and later on, a blood clot in his leg).
- f Mike Conley was named as a replacement to Devin Booker due to the latter being unable to participate in the event with a knee injury.
- g Julius Randle was named as a replacement to Anfernee Simons due to the latter being unable to participate in the event with an ankle injury.
- h Stephen Curry competed with Sabrina Ionescu of the WNBA's New York Liberty in an independent three-point shootout during the 2024 All-Star Weekend. Ionescu set the single-round record by an NBA or WNBA player during the 2023 WNBA All Star Weekend in Las Vegas with a second-round score of 37.[17]
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
Remove ads