For the first time since 2014, the JBL Three-Point Contest champion is not a Golden State Warrior. Defending Klay Thompson fell just short of advancing to the final as he tallied a score of 18 in the first round.
After Stephen Curry took home the crown in 2015, Thompson took the reigns as the three-point king at All-Star Weekend in Toronto in 2016. But the bid for three straight Warriors Three-Point Contest Champions fell just short, as Thompson tied for the highest score not to advance to the final round.
While there is certainly a degree of disappointment in not taking home the three-point crown, every basketball fan had to feel good about what happened immediately after Houston’s Eric Gordon was ultimately crowned the Three-Point Contest champion, as $500,000 dollars was donated to the SagerStrong Foundation through a slew of shooting contests.
Stephen Curry was pulled from the crowd to participate but ultimately couldn’t connect from halfcourt, but Craig Sager’s young son, with a lift from Shaquille O’Neal, ultimately made a shot to bring FootLocker’s donation to a half million dollars.
All of this was part of State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, which opened with New York’s Kristaps Porzingis winning the Taco Bell Skills Challenge and ended with Indiana's Glenn Robinson III winning the Verizon Slam Dunk Contest.
Earlier in the day, Thompson and Curry joined their All-Star teammates Kevin Durant and Draymond Green at their All-Star practice. And other highlights of the day included Curry tossing the ball up for the ceremonial of the tip of the NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified Sports Game, Santa Cruz Warriors players Briante Weber and Dennis Clifford taking part in the NBA D-League All-Star Game and Santa Cruz’s Scott Wood winning the D-League Three-Point Contest.