HOUSTON – Tonight, the NBA announced that Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon will defend his title at the 2018 JBL Three-Point Contest held during NBA All-Star Weekend. Last year, Gordon became the first player in franchise history to win the competition. The event will take place as part of State Farm All-Star Saturday Night in Los Angeles on Feb. 17. TNT’s coverage of All-Star Saturday Night begins at 7 p.m. CT.
Gordon will be joined in the event by Bradley Beal (Washington), Devin Booker (Phoenix), Wayne Ellington (Miami), Paul George (Oklahoma City), Tobias Harris (L.A. Clippers), Kyle Lowry (Toronto), and Klay Thompson (Golden State).
Through games played on Jan. 31, Gordon ranked sixth in the NBA in 3-pointers made this season with 146. He has already scored 20-plus points 23 times this season after doing so 19 times in 2016-17. Gordon’s 19.1 points per game is his highest average since the 2011-12 season.
Since joining the Rockets in 2016-17, Gordon has hit the fourth-most 3-pointers (392) of any player in the league. Last season, he set the NBA record for the most 3-pointers made by a reserve in a single season with 206, breaking the previous mark of 179 by Mirza Teletovic in 2015-16. Dating back to the start of 2013-14, Gordon is one of six players averaging at least 2.5 3-pointers made while shooting 38.0% or better from behind-the-arc.
The JBL Three-Point Contest is a two-round, timed competition in which five shooting locations are positioned around the three-point arc. Four racks contain four orange balls (each worth one point) and one multicolored “money” ball (worth two points). The fifth rack is a special “all money ball” rack, which each participant can place at any of the five shooting locations. Every ball on this rack is worth two points.
The players have one minute to shoot as many of the 25 balls as they can. The three competitors with the highest scores in the first round advance to the championship round.