Kyrie Irving will defend his title at the 2014 Three-Point Contest in New Orleans, and to win it for the second straight year he’ll have to beat a field that, at least on paper, appears to be pretty stacked.
In addition to Irving, the east will be represented by Arron Afflalo, Bradley Beal, and Joe Johnson. From the West, we’ll have Marco Belinelli, Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, and Kevin Love.
There’s a new wrinkle to this year’s contest, one that will let players maximize their point total in a particular area of the floor. From the official release:
“New to this year’s contest, each player will also be able to switch one of the five shooting locations to a full rack of five “money balls,” each of which will be worth two points.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the advanced stats community immediately ripping any player who chooses anything other than the racks in the corners for their chance at five money ball bonuses.
As a reminder, all of the All-Star Saturday events end up with money being donated to charity, which is always a positive.
“For the second consecutive year, the Eastern and Western conferences will compete during State Farm All-Star Saturday Night in an evening of challenges that will raise money for charity. NBA Cares and State Farm will make a joint donation of $500,000 as part of the event, with $100,000 awarded to each event’s winning conference’s charities and $25,000 going to the charities of the runner-up for each event. The Eastern Conference will be playing for the American Heart Association and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF while the Western Conference will compete for Teach for America and Wounded Warrior Project®. All-Stars Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and George, winner of the 2012-13 Kia NBA Most Improved Player Award, will serve as captains of the Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively. The charities were selected by George and Curry, the NBA, and State Farm.”
“The player scoring the most points in the Championship Round will win the 2014 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest for his conference along with $100,000 for their Conference’s charities.”
Irving was the Three-Point Contest winner last season.
