NBA 3-Point Contest 2024: Highlights, Odds and Predictions for Participants
February 15, 2024
The NBA 3-Point Contest field features the last two winners of the All-Star Weekend event and five players who rank in the top 50 in three-point percentage.
Damian Lillard will try to repeat as the event champion, this time as a representative of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Lillard and Karl-Anthony Towns will each try to become the eighth multi-time 3-Point Contest champion. Towns stunned the field in Cleveland in 2022.
The two previous winners will face plenty of competition from the other six players in the field, starting with Tyrese Haliburton, who will try to put on a show in front of the Indianapolis crowd.
3-Point Contest Odds
Damian Lillard (+370; bet $100 to win $370)
Tyrese Haliburton (+440)
Trae Young (+550)
Malik Beasley (+650)
Jalen Brunson (+700)
Karl-Anthony Towns (+700)
Lauri Markkanen (+800)
Donovan Mitchell (+950)
Preview
Lillard enters Indianapolis as the favorite because of his victory in Salt Lake City last year and because Stephen Curry is competing in his own event on Saturday night against Sabrina Ionescu.
Lillard is not a lock to repeat, though, since he had the lowest final-round score for a three-point champion in four years and is shooting 34.4 percent from three-point range in his first season with the Bucks. Lillard shot 37.1 percent from three last season with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Towns can be viewed as the best value pick to win the three-point event since he won in 2021 and improved his shot from deep since then.
Towns is shooting 43.6 percent from three this season. That is the highest percentage of his career.
His three-point percentage is the second-best number in the field behind that of Malik Beasley, who is seventh in the NBA in that category.
Beasley has long been known as a three-point ace, and he can get hot at anytime from deep, like he did in his 11-three game last season against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Lauri Markkanen, Jalen Brunson and Haliburton are the other three participants in the top 50 of three-point shooting along with Towns and Beasley.
Haliburton will be the sentimental favorite because the event is taking place in Indianapolis. His three-point percentage has been in the 40s for each of his five NBA seasons, and he advanced to the final of the 3-Point Contest last season.
Donovan Mitchell and Trae Young can't be counted out either since both players are pure scorers and are more than capable of getting hot from three-point range.
Prediction
1. Tyrese Haliburton
2. Damian Lillard
3. Karl-Anthony Towns
We could be headed toward another final showdown between Lillard and Haliburton in Indianapolis.
Haliburton is an excellent three-point shooter and should be fueled to win more by the home crowd inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
Lillard and Towns should bank on their previous winning experience to produce some of the highest scores in the competition.
21+ and present in AZ, CO, CT, IA, IL, IN, LA, MI, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VA, or WV. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, IN, IL, NJ, PA, VA), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY(467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or visit www.1800gambler.net (WV).
