It’s Dame Time! Lillard wins 3-point contest 

Inglewood, CA (The Bulletin) – The best part of NBA All-Star Weekend is that it is a lot of fun. For a few days, all eyes turned to Southern California and the city of Inglewood where community and celebrity dizziness made the rounds. 

But there was still some basketball to be played. That meant competition. The NBA’s All-Star State Farm 3-Point Contest proved this point. Portland Trail Blazers sharp-shooter Damian Lillard went toe-to-toe with Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns in the championship round and survived. 

Lillard managed to come out on top of a talented field of three-point shooters only because Booker simply misfired on several of his last attempts, which cost him the win. Lillard claimed his third NBA All-Star shooting title with a 29-27 win over Booker. 

“I could have tied it, I think. I didn’t know what number I was at. I was just going. But yeah, that’ll sting me for some time,” Booker remarked. 

This has been sort of a redemption ride for Lillard. Last season, while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, Lillard suffered a torn Achilles during the postseason. He is still recovering from that devastating injury, which makes the win in the 3-point contest event sweeter for one of the NBA’s best shooters. 

“For me, it means a lot,” Lillard said during a press conference after the contest. “Just being able to get involved in some competition, feel a little bit of pressure, to do something that I haven’t been able to do all year. But just as a shooter, anytime you can get in this competition and win it amongst other great shooters, I think that’s one of the greatest honors you can have as a shooter in this league. Then to get my third and kind of join a different group was special, too.”

As great as a player Lillard is, he wasn’t just going to waltz in and be handed the championship. He had to earn it. And just because a player has made his reputation staked to making three-point shots, this didn’t guarantee prosperity in a one-off competition.

There was no Steph Curry in the State Farm 3-Point Contest portion of the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend. The contest carried on, nonetheless. 

With long-range shooters Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets, Bobby Portis Jr. of the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell, and Norman Powell of the Miami Heat, the contest was still exciting to watch. 

Mitchell leads the NBA in made three-point shots, so it was natural for him to compete. But he struggled a bit, scoring just 24 points in the opening round. Murray struggled to get it going in the first round, scoring 18 points in the first round of competition. 

The biggest surprise in the first round was Charlotte Hornets guard/forward Kon Knueppel. Knueppel, who averages just over 18 points a game during the regular season for the Hornets, took his turn first in the opening round and got hot at the right time, dropping 27 points. 

Maybe trying to connect those long-distant field goals is not as easy as it looks. Portis had trouble getting out of the starting blocks, scoring just 15 points in the first round. Tyrese Maxey, one of the NBA’s young stars, couldn’t get it going, either. Maxey would end up with 17 points. 

Booker would not have any issues advancing to the second round after he dropped in 30 points to take over a brief first round lead. That lead was threatened to go up in smoke when Lillard got his turn to fire it up. When it’s Dame Time, look out!

Lillard faltered a little and finished with 27 points in his tip-off round. The pressures keeping up the shooting flow seemed to hit Knueppel pretty hard in the second round as the Charlotte star could only connect for 17 points. 

Lillard looked like himself in the second round, going off for 29 points. Booker positioned himself to surpass Lillard, but the Phoenix superstar could land the knockout dagger on his last couple of field goal attempts and saw his second score land at 27 points.

Booker was beside himself as Lillard took home the first place honors after his performance. However, his disbelief in missing his last field goal attempts turned into paying respect to Lillard. 

“I think it’s a great feat for him,” Booker said. “Dame is somebody I have a lot of respect for. It’s his third time winning it. Somebody I was teammates with in the Olympics. Going into it, I thought it was going to be Kon or Dame or me, and it ended up being the final round and some good shooting going on.”

The story provided appears courtesy of The Bulletin newspaper, an editorial partner of News4usonline