Damian Lillard Earns Third Three Point Title, Knicks Win Shooting Stars, and Keshad Johnson is the 2026 Slam Dunk Contest Champion
NBA All-Star Saturday Night tipped off with the Three Point Contest, which has become the showcase event after living in the shadow of the Slam Dunk Contest from the 1980s through the early 2000s when Pantheon members (including Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant) strutted their high-flying stuff. Rookie Kon Knueppel started strongly with 27 points, setting a pace that few could match. Devin Booker had the highest first round score (30, surpassing his then-record 28 points from the final round in 2018 when he won this event), while Damian Lillard also scored 27 points to join Knueppel and Booker in the final round. Donovan Mitchell (24), Norman Powell (23), Jamal Murray (18), Tyrese Maxey (17), and Bobby Portis (15) failed to advance. In the final round, Knueppel slumped to 17 points, Lillard improved to 29 points, and Booker hit his first nine shots before missing his last three to finish with 27 points.
This was Lillard's first on-court appearance in a Portland Trail Blazers uniform since rejoing the team last summer after tearing his left Achilles in his last game with the Milwaukee Bucks on April 29, 2025. Lillard played the first 11 seasons of his career with Portland before spending two seasons with the Bucks. Lillard, who previously won this event in 2023 and 2024, joins Larry Bird (1986-88) and Craig Hodges (1990-92) as the Three Point Contest's only three-time champions. I give Lillard credit for putting himself out in public view while recovering from his injury, particularly in an era when so many star players avoid participating in All-Star Saturday Night. In his remarks after winning the event, Lillard noted that fans want to see All-Stars competing hard, and he wanted to do his best to provide that. Let's hope that this spirit of competition carries over to Sunday night's main event.
The Shooting Stars competition featured teams with a mixture of two current players plus one retired player. It is nice to see retired players have an opportunity to participate in All-Star Weekend. The retired players were Rip Hamilton (who joined Scottie Barnes and Chet Holmgren on Team All-Star), Ron Harper (who joined his sons Dylan Harper and Ron Harper Jr. on Team Harper), Allan Houston (who joined Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns on Team Knicks), and Corey Maggette (who joined Jalen Johnson and Kon Knueppel on Team Cameron). The event's format requires each team member to shoot in the same order from seven different marked spots within 1:10.
Team Knicks posted the first round's highest score (31), and then topped that with 47 in the final round to defeat Team Cameron, which had 38 points in the final round. Houston was also a member of New York's winning team in the 2012 edition of this event, which returned to All-Star Weekend after previously being held from 2004-15.
The Slam Dunk Contest featured four first-time competitors, none of whom have ever been selected as an NBA All-Star: G League player Carter Bryant, the Miami Heat's Keshad Johnson, the L.A. Lakers' Jaxson Hayes, and the Orlando Magic's Jase Richardson (whose father Jason won the Slam Dunk Contest in 2002 and 2003).
The Slam Dunk Contest judges were Dominique Wilkins (Slam Dunk Contest champion in 1985 and 1990), Dwight Howard (2008 Slam Dunk Contest champion), Corey Maggette (2001 Slam Dunk Contest participant), Brent Barry (1996 Slam Dunk Contest champion), and Julius "Dr. J" Erving (1976 ABA Slam Dunk Contest champion, 1984 NBA Slam Dunk Contest runner-up to Larry Nance).
Full credit to each of the four young players who did their best to put on a show, but neither the dunks nor the star quality come close to matching the entertainment that the Slam Dunk Contest provided during its glory years. Johnson danced and strutted his way to the crown, walking out with Bay Area rap legend E-40 to get the crowd hyped up, soaring over over E-40 on his first dunk, and clinching the title with a between the legs reverse dunk on his final attempt. Bryant earned the lone perfect 50 of the night before falling flat in the final round with a pedestrian dunk after repeatedly missing the fancier dunk that he had originally prepared.
Erving presented the Julius "Dr. J" Erving Slam Dunk Contest trophy to Johnson:
Labels: Allan Houston, Damian Lillard, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Keshad Johnson, NBA All-Star Weekend, New York Knicks, Rick Brunson, Shooting Stars, Three Point Contest
posted by David Friedman @ 12:11 PM
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