The entire basketball world was shocked when Damian Lillard was announced as a participant in the upcoming 3-point contest during the 2026 All-Star Weekend. The decision came as a surprise, considering that Lillard has not played a single game in the 2025-2026 season.
Lillard has been sidelined while recovering from a torn left Achilles tendon he suffered during the 2025 playoffs. After committing to miss the entire season, the idea of him stepping onto the floor for the 3-point Contest felt almost unthinkable.
As it turns out, the whole thing began as nothing more than a joke. Lillard was talking with his friend Michael Levine, a marketing executive for the NBA, when he casually floated the idea.
“It started off as a joke,” Lillard said. “I told him I was going on vacation (for All-Star break), but if y’all need a body, I’ll shoot in the 3-point contest.”
“He was like, ‘Oh, that would be awesome …’ and we kind of joked about it, and left it at that,” Lillard said.
The conversation might have ended there if not for an unexpected opening. One of the originally committed contestants dropped out of the competition at the last minute. That is when Levine decided to revisit their earlier conversation and check in with Lillard
Even though the original idea was nothing more than a “joke,” Levine asked if he would actually do it. He did not expect the answer he received.
“He was like … ‘Would you really do it?”’ Lillard said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah.”’
A potential win would mark Damian Lillard’s third 3-point contest title, putting him in the same rare company as Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only players in NBA history to win it three times.
Who will Damian Lillard go up against in the 3-point contest?
Damian Lillard will face a stacked lineup that features Devin Booker, Kon Knueppel, Tyrese Maxey, Donovan Mitchell, Jamal Murray, Bobby Portis Jr. and Norman Powell.
Besides Lillard, Booker is the only other player in the group who has won this event before, emerging victorious during the 2018 All-Star Weekend.
Mitchell comes in as the league leader in three-pointers made with 183. Knueppel is right behind him in second with 179, while Maxey is the only other player from this field ranked inside the top eight, sitting fourth overall with 171.
Portis’ inclusion caught a lot of fans by surprise. However, his numbers back it up, owning the highest three-point percentage among the participants and ranking fourth in the NBA at 45.6%.
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