Curry brothers, Nowitzki set for 3-point shootout


Reuters | Updated: 06-02-2019 14:00 IST | Created: 06-02-2019 14:00 IST
Curry brothers, Nowitzki set for 3-point shootout

Former NBA Most Valuable Players Stephen Curry and Dirk Nowitzki will take part in the 3-Point Contest as part of the NBA's All-Star Saturday festivities on Feb. 16 in Charlotte, N.C. Curry, a two-time MVP and three-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, will be competing against his brother Seth, a Portland Trail Blazers reserve.

Nowitzki, the league MVP in 2007 and the NBA Finals MVP in 2011 when he led the Dallas Mavericks to the title, will take part in the contest in what is largely expected to be his final season. The 40-year-old veteran was recently selected to the All-Star Game roster as a special addition. The long-distance shooting competition also will feature defending champion Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns.

Stephen Curry, 30, won the shootout in 2015, but Seth Curry, 28, is the NBA's 3-point shooting leader this season, having hit 48.5 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc (66 of 136). Stephen Curry is fifth at 45.1 percent (215 of 477). Rounding out the 3-point-shooting field are Kemba Walker of the host Charlotte Hornets plus the Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard, Sacramento Kings' Buddy Hield, the Toronto Raptors' Danny Green, the Milwaukee Bucks' Khris Middleton and the Brooklyn Nets' Joe Harris.

The Hornets also will have an entrant in the slam-dunk contest during All-Star Saturday, with rookie Miles Bridges chosen as Charlotte's first dunk competitor since Gerald Wallace participated in 2010. Bridges will be up against the Oklahoma City Thunder's Hamidou Diallo, the Atlanta Hawks' John Collins and the New York Knicks' Dennis Smith Jr. Last season, Smith came in third in the dunk contest behind the Utah Jazz's Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers' Larry Nance Jr.

The two Rookie of the Year front-runners and a pair of first-time All-Stars lead the field for the Skills Challenge. Rookies Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks will go up against two young star big men, the Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic and the Orlando Magic's Nikola Vucevic.

Also in the Skills Challenge field are the Memphis Grizzlies' Mike Conley, whose name is a hot topic ahead of the Thursday trade deadline, plus the Sacramento Kings' De'Aaron Fox, the Los Angeles Lakers' Kyle Kuzma and the Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum. The skills competition tests players' dribbling, passing, agility and 3-point-shooting skills.

--Field Level Media

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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