Three-Point Contest

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 contest was originally named the "Long Distance Shootout".

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 Portland Trail Blazers is the most recent winner of the event, which was held at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. Buddy Hield also tied Steph Curry’s record of 31 points in the 2025 edition of the three-point contest.

Rules

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 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.

Milestones

• Larry Bird, the inaugural winner of this contest, Craig Hodges and Damian Lillard (incumbent) have each won three times, while Mark Price, Jeff Hornacek, Peja Stojaković, Jason Kapono, and Stephen Curry have each won twice.
• Kon Knueppel of the Charlotte Hornets is the most recent rookie to be invited to the contest.
• 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.

Winners

Multi-time winners

Three Point Contest champions by franchise

All-time participants

Records

Points

Shots made

Consecutive shots made

Sources:^{[1][11][12][13][14]}

Criticism and controversies

In 2005, Fred Hoiberg became the first player in NBA history to lead the league in three-point shooting percentage and not be invited to the three-point shooting competition.

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]

See also

• Three-Point Contest in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)

Notes

1. ^ 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).
2. ^ 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.
3. ^ 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.
4. ^ 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.^[16]

References

General

• "Shootout All-Time Winners". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
• "Shootout Round-by-Round Results: 2000–08". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on December 25, 2008. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
• "Shootout Round-by-Round Results: 1990–98". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on February 8, 2003. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
• "Shootout Round-by-Round Results: 1986–89". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on May 28, 2008. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
• "Shootout Records". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
• "All-Star Game Contests". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 19, 2008.

Specific

1. ^ McMenamin, Dave (February 20, 2008). "Kapono Lights Up Saturday Night". NBA.com. TurnerInteractive, Inc. Archived from the original on March 23, 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
2. ^ Nance, Roscoe (February 16, 2007). "East notes: Kapono taking shot at three-point crown". USA Today. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
3. ^ "NBA All-Star Game: Shootout". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
4. ^ "Jason Kapono To Defend Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout Crown". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. February 6, 2008. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
5. ^ Brown, Donald H. (2007). A Basketball Handbook. AuthorHouse. p. 85. ISBN 978-1425961909.
6. ^ Brown, Donald H. (2007). A Best of Basketball Story. AuthorHouse. p. 127. ISBN 978-1434341938.
7. ^ Marco Belinelli wins the Three-Point Shootout after Bradley Beal’s comeback forces a playoff, Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
8. ^ "2020 MTN DEW 3-Point Contest". NBA.com
9. ^ "Billups Named As Participant in Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. February 8, 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
10. ^ "NBA All-Star – 3 Point Shootout Contest". www.NBA-Allstar.com
11. ^ "Jason Kapono is Three-Point Champ". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
12. ^ "Shootout Records". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
13. ^ "Quentin Richardson Bio". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on December 24, 2008. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
14. ^ "Shootout Round-by-Round Results: 2000–08". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on December 25, 2008. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
15. ^ Kalbrosky, Bryan (February 17, 2024). "Fans criticized refs for allowing 3-point contest participants to shoot with their feet on the line". USA Today
16. ^ Philippou, Alexa (14 July 2023). "Sabrina Ionescu scores record 37 points to win WNBA 3-point contest". ESPN. Retrieved 15 July 2023.