Three-Point Contest

Three-Point Contest
SportBasketball
CompetitionNational Basketball Association
DisciplineThree-point shooting
Sponsored byState Farm
History
First awardLarry Bird, 1986
Most wins3 times:
Most recentDamian Lillard, 2026
WebsiteState Farm 3-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

Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics won in the first three years of the contest's history.
Craig Hodges of the Chicago Bulls won in three consecutive years from 1990 to 1992.
Two-time winner Jason Kapono recorded the highest percentage in the final round among winners at .833 in 2008.
Damian Lillard became the third three-time winner after winning three times in 2023, 2024, and 2026.
Active NBA player
Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Denotes the tiebreaker score from the final round
Player (#)Denotes the number of times the player has won
Team (#)Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won

Multi-time winners

Wins PlayerTeam(s) Years
3 Larry BirdBoston Celtics 1986, 1987, 1988
Craig HodgesChicago Bulls 1990, 1991, 1992
Damian LillardPortland Trail Blazers (2), Milwaukee Bucks (1) 2023, 2024, 2026
2 Stephen CurryGolden State Warriors 2015, 2021
Jeff HornacekUtah Jazz 1998, 2000
Jason KaponoMiami Heat (1), Toronto Raptors (1) 2007, 2008
Mark PriceCleveland Cavaliers 1993, 1994
Peja StojakovićSacramento Kings 2002, 2003

Three Point Contest champions by franchise

No. FranchiseLast win
5 Miami Heat2025
4 Boston Celtics2010
Chicago Bulls1997
3 Golden State Warriors2021
Sacramento Kings2020
Cleveland Cavaliers2013
2 Portland Trail Blazers2026
Milwaukee Bucks2024
Minnesota Timberwolves2022
Phoenix Suns2018
Utah Jazz2000
1 Brooklyn Nets2019
Houston Rockets2017
San Antonio Spurs2014
Toronto Raptors2008
Dallas Mavericks2006
Denver Nuggets2004
Washington Bullets1996
Seattle SuperSonics1989

All-time participants

Player
(in bold text)		 Indicates the winner of the contest
Player (#) Denotes the number of times the player has been in the contest

Records

Points

1st format: maximum score of 30
2nd format: maximum score of 34
3rd format: maximum score of 40
Player (#)Denotes the number of times player is in the top 25
Player (#)Italics denotes the record was from a tiebreaker

Shots made

1st and 2nd formats: maximum of 25 shots
3rd format: maximum of 27 shots
Player (#)Denotes the number of times player is in the top 25
Player (#)Italics denotes the record was from a tiebreaker

Consecutive shots made

1st and 2nd formats: maximum of 25 shots
3rd format: maximum of 27 shots
Player (#)Denotes the number of times player is in the top 25
Player (#)Italics denotes the record was from a tiebreaker

Sources:[1][11][13][14][15]

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.[16]

See also

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

Notes

  1. 1 2 The 1999 All-Star Game was cancelled due to the 1998–99 NBA lockout.
  2. ↑ 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).
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ 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.[12]

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. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 "Jason Kapono is Three-Point Champ". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
  12. ↑ Philippou, Alexa (July 14, 2023). "Sabrina Ionescu scores record 37 points to win WNBA 3-point contest". ESPN. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Shootout Records". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
  14. ↑ "Quentin Richardson Bio". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on December 24, 2008. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
  15. ↑ "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.
  16. ↑ Kalbrosky, Bryan (February 17, 2024). "Fans criticized refs for allowing 3-point contest participants to shoot with their feet on the line". USA Today.

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