For years, Damian Lillard has been one of the NBA’s best scoring guards, and he has been a particularly lethal 3-point shooter, especially during crunch time.
Although he has struggled with his 3-point shot in his first season with the Milwaukee Bucks, he still carries himself as a tremendous threat in that department.
Last year, Lillard won the NBA’s 3-Point Contest at All-Star Weekend, and he will look to repeat as the contest’s champion this year in Indianapolis, per Chris Haynes.
Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard will defend his title and participate in the 2024 3-Point Contest during All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport. pic.twitter.com/IMZs9rHbAE
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) January 26, 2024
Lillard may not be quite the outside threat that Stephen Curry has always been, but he does have a strong career mark of 37.1 percent from 3-point range.
Twice, he has made a game-winning trey to end a playoff series — once in 2014 against the Houston Rockets and again in 2019 versus the Oklahoma City Thunder.
His Bucks are in second place in the Eastern Conference with a 31-13 record despite a porous defense, and one has to figure that if they figure out their defensive problems, they will be a major threat come playoff time, even to the first-place Boston Celtics.
This week, the Bucks fired rookie head coach Adrian Griffin and will replace him with Doc Rivers.
So far this season, Lillard is averaging 25.3 points and 6.8 assists a game, although he’s shooting just 42.6 percent overall and 34.7 percent from 3-point land.
Milwaukee unexpectedly landed him last summer when they gave up Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen, and three future first-round draft picks for the future Hall of Famer, whom many thought would end up with the Miami Heat, his preferred destination when he asked the Portland Trail Blazers to trade him.
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