2025 NBA 3-Point Contest Predictions, Picks, Odds & Rules: Back Brunson

While most eyes are on Damian Lillard and Buddy Hield, Jalen Brunson has emerged as our favorite bet for tonight's festivities in the Bay Area.

Rohit Ponnaiya - Betting Analyst at Covers.com
Rohit Ponnaiya • Betting Analyst
Feb 15, 2025 • 11:54 ET • 4 min read
Jalen Brunson New York Knicks NBA
Photo By - Imagn Images. New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson celebrates a 3-point shot.

NBA All-Star weekend is here and one of the biggest events is tonight's Starry 3-point contest at the Chase Center.

Although Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard is gunning for a three-peat in this year's 3-point contest, I'm backing a dark horse to pull off an upset.

I break down the NBA All-Star odds and bring you my best NBA picks for the 3-point contest on Saturday, February 15.

NBA 3-Point Contest odds

Player Team 3P% FanDuel
Damian Lillard Bucks Milwaukee Bucks 38.2% +300
Buddy Hield Warriors Golden State Warriors 36.3% +490
Darius Garland CavsCleveland Cavaliers 43.1% +500
Norman Powell Clippers Los Angeles Clippers  42.8% +550
Cam Johnson Nets Brooklyn Nets  41.3% +700
Tyler Herro Heat Miami Heat 38.0% +700
Jalen Brunson Knicks New York Knicks 39.7% +950
Cade Cunningham Pistons Detroit Pistons 35.1% +1200

NBA 3-Point Contest rules

The 3-Point Contest has gotten increasingly complicated over the years with new modifications added almost annually. Familiarize yourself with the latest rules before wagering on the event.

  • Players are given 70 seconds to shoot 27 balls from five racks located around the arc.

  • Four of the five racks contain four NBA game balls and one tri-colored "moneyball." The fifth rack contains five tri-colored moneyballs. Players choose in advance where they would like to have the moneyball rack positioned.

  • Regular game balls are worth one point and moneyballs are worth two points.

  • There are two additional "Starry Range" ball pedestals, one between racks 2 and 3, and the other between racks 3 and 4. These shots are 29 feet and 9 inches from the basket (six feet behind the arc) and are worth three points each.

  • The order of the competition is determined by a random draw, except for the previous year's winner, who automatically goes at the end of the opening round.

  • The three players with the highest scores in the opening round will advance to the championship round. If there is a tie to determine the championship round participants, a 30-second tie-breaker round will take place between the tied players.

  • The order for the Final Round will be the inverse of the opening round scores (i.e. the player with the lowest score shoots first). If a tie occurs in the final round, a full 70-second tiebreaker round will be used to determine the champion.

NBA 3-Point Contest favorites

Damian Lillard (+300)

Damian Lillard has won this contest in each of the past two years and this will be his fifth year competing. Not only is the Milwaukee Bucks point guard a sharpshooter with deep range and loads of experience in this event, but he's also consistent. 

In fact, he finished with exactly 26 points in all four rounds over the last two years. 

Buddy Hield (+490)

Golden State Warriors guard Buddy Hield is also a previous winner of this competition after taking home the award in 2020. He also took part in the 3-point contest in 2019 and 2023 and made it to the Final Round in each of those years as well.

That said, it's worth pointing out that Hield has a modest 36.3 3PT% this season — the second-lowest of anybody in the competition. That number has dipped to just 31.9% at home, so the Warriors veteran might not benefit from home-court advantage at the Chase Center.

Darius Garland (+500)

This is Darius Garland's first year participating in the event, but the Cleveland Cavaliers star boasts the highest three-point percentage (43.1%) of any participant this year.

Garland drained a game-winning shot from the logo against the Pistons last week, showing the range needed to make those "Starry ball" shots.

NBA 3-Point Contest pick

With Lillard's experience and recent history as a back-to-back champion, it's easy to see why he's the favorite. That said, There's a lot of volatility when it comes to 3-point shooting, and several other players provide better value. 

One of those players is New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, who took part in this contest last year and had a disappointing sixth-place result with 24 points. Brunson has made no secret of the fact that he's motivated to do much better this year, and I think the previous experience will prove invaluable.

Brunson is a dead-eye shooter with the kind of quick and efficient release that lends itself to this competition. He's also the type of scorer that makes tough shots when the lights are at their brightest.

Don't forget that the majority of shots in this contest come from above the break or on deep threes. Brunson shoots 40% from above the break, including a sizzling 42.5% on deep threes. 

I'm taking the Knicks superstar to etch his name into All-Star Weekend history on Saturday. 

Best bet: Jalen Brunson 3-Point Contest Winner (+950 at FanDuel)

Past 3-Point Contest Winners

Year Player
2024 Trail Blazers Damian Lillard
2023 Trail Blazers Damian Lillard
2022 Timberwolves Karl-Anthony Towns
2021 Warriors Steph Curry
2020 Kings Buddy Hield
2019 Browns Joe Harris
2018 Suns Devin Booker
2017 Rockets Eric Gordon
2016 Warriors Klay Thompson
2015 Warriors Steph Curry

Players who have won multiple 3-Point Contests

Player Years
Larry Bird 1986, 1987, 1988
Craig Hodges 1990, 1991, 1992
Peja Stojakovic 2002, 2003
Jeff Hornacek 1998, 2000
Mark Price 1993,1994
Jason Kapono 2007, 2008
Steph Curry 2015, 2021
Damian Lillard 2023, 2024

Larry Bird added to his legacy by winning the first three 3-Point Contests from 1986 to 1988 before retiring from the event with nothing left to prove.

A master of the mental arts, the "Hick from French Lick" famously psyched out his opponents in his final 3-point shootout by walking into the locker room and casually asking, "Who's coming in second?" 

The answer, as it turns out, was Seattle's Dale Ellis, who could only watch in awe as Bird cooly eliminated him in the final round while still wearing his warmup jacket.

3-Point Contest trends

  • Dirk Nowitzki (2006) and Karl-Anthony Towns (2022) are the only 7-footers to win the contest.

  • No one had won the contest in back-to-back years since 2008, until Damian Lillard accomplished the feat in 2023-24.

  • No one has won the contest on their own home court.

Pages related to this topic

Betting Analyst

With a background playing soccer, rugby, and boxing, combined with a journalism degree, it's little surprise that Rohit gravitated towards the world of sports betting. He specializes in betting on UFC and college basketball, two sports where the eyeball test can tell you a lot more about matchups than any analytics. Rohit has years of experience handicapping NFL and NBA games as well as niche betting markets such as politics and Oscar odds. He's also the resident CFL expert and formerly hosted "The Chez and Ro Show" with former CFL star Davis Sanchez.

You can catch Rohit breaking down every UFC event with Joe Osborne on "P4P Picks" on the Covers YouTube channel and he also has regular appearances on "Before You Bet" with Joe. In addition, he's a regular guest on "By The Book" on the Monumental Sports Network and makes guest appearances on VSIN's "The Handle" and CBS Sports.

Rohit primarily makes his bets at bet365, which offers a wide variety of prop markets, but also has accounts at several others so he can shop around for the best prices. For Rohit, bankroll management is key. He believes you should never bet what you can't afford to lose and maximize those few betting opportunities where books misprice a line.

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