After coming up empty in their first two trips to the Three-Point Contest, nearly three decades came and went before the Lakers sent another shooter to the All-Star Weekend event, but now Nick Young is trying to bring the elusive trophy to Los Angeles.
All three Lakers who have represented at the event have been born-and-bred Angelenos trying to win for their city.
Ironically for a team with few entries into this contest, the Lakers had two participants in their first attempt back during the Showtime era.
Michael Cooper (1987)
The eventual Defensive Player of the Year showed off his skills on the other end in the first round, finishing with 15 points in Seattle — the second-most behind Dallas’ Detlef Schrempf (19).
With the field narrowed down to four in the semifinals, the Pasadena native ended up the odd man out, as he only scored 10 while Schrempf took second with 16.
Cooper finished the regular season with the NBA’s second-most triples (89) on its eighth-best percentage (38.5). But his biggest moment from beyond the arc came during the NBA Finals against Larry Bird, who beat Schrempf in the Three-Point championship round.
The Lakers ended up capturing the championship that year by beating Bird’s Celtics in six games. Cooper was huge in Game 2 — splashing six 3-pointers, which remains a since-tied franchise Finals record.
Byron Scott (1987, 1988)
Scott’s introduction to the Three-Point Contest went about as poorly as it could’ve, as he finished last with only nine points in 1987.
Nonetheless, the NBA invited him to perform the next year in Chicago, and the Inglewood product didn’t disappoint.
In a polar-opposite performance, Scott caught fire immediately, knocking down his first seven shots as well as his last four. By the time the buzzer sounded, he had won the first round with 19 points.
However, in the semifinals, his shooting tailed off at the very end, as he made just one of his last nine attempts.
Scott — who ended with 11 points — came just one shy of tying Seattle’s Dale Ellis for a chance to advance into the championship round. Instead, the trophy wound up back in Bird’s hands, as the Hall of Famer captured his third straight Three-Point Contest title.
Nick Young (2017)
After a 29-year absence, the Lakers finally had another contestant at the Three-Point Contest when Nick Young took the stage in New Orleans.
Young — who ranked among the NBA's top 15 in both made 3-pointers and 3-point percentage at All-Star Break — nearly made it through to the championship round of the 2017 edition, which went straight from the eight-man field to the three-man finals.
He caught fire on the final rack, hitting four-of-five to finish with 18 points — just one shy of forcing a shootout for the final spot of advancement.
With Young left one "money ball" shot away from making the championship, Houston's Eric Gordon went on to win it all.