Damian Lillard’s Full-Circle Moment: From Bay Area Kid to NBA 3-Point Contest King
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, the NBA All-Star Game graced the Bay Area, and a young Damian Lillard was there, soaking in the atmosphere and, naturally, shooting 3s. Fast forward to today, and the Milwaukee Bucks’ nine-time All-Star is back in the Bay Area, ready to make history once again.
Back then, Lillard’s father, Houston, gave him the week off from school to enjoy the All-Star festivities. Among the highlights was a 3-point competition for local fans, where Damian and his older brother, Houston Jr., made it to the championship round. “It’s definitely a full-circle moment,” Lillard reflects, reminiscing about the memories of that week, including Vince Carter’s unforgettable dunk contest win and watching his favorite players in action.
Now, Lillard is on the brink of achieving something remarkable: winning the NBA 3-point contest for a third consecutive year. Only two players, Larry Bird and Craig Hodges, have accomplished this feat. A third straight victory would underscore a point that often gets overshadowed by another Bay Area icon: Stephen Curry. While Curry is rightly celebrated as the greatest shooter ever, Lillard has quietly been the NBA’s king of the deep 3 for several years.
The 2019 Western Conference Finals: A Tale of Two Sharpshooters
The 2019 Western Conference Finals promised a thrilling showdown between the league’s top sharpshooting point guards. However, the series didn’t quite live up to the hype, as Curry’s Warriors swept Lillard’s Portland Trail Blazers to advance to the NBA Finals. Curry outshone Lillard, averaging 36.5 points per game compared to Lillard’s 22.3 points, with significantly better efficiency.
Despite Curry’s postseason success and his prolific 3-point shooting, the perception that he’s in a league of his own in terms of long-range efficiency isn’t entirely accurate. While Curry holds the record for the most triples and has 14 seasons with at least 150 made 3s, Lillard’s 12 seasons with that total rank second all time. When it comes to shooting from further distances, Lillard’s numbers are even more impressive.
- Over the past 10 seasons, Lillard has been the league’s most accurate volume shooter from 30-plus feet, connecting on 31.9% of his attempts, according to Second Spectrum tracking.
- He’s made 240 shots from that range, compared to Curry’s 179, with Curry hitting 27.1% from there over the same period.
- Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks has hit the most 30-footers over the past decade, but his connection rate of 30.6% is slightly below Lillard’s.
Despite his reputation, Lillard still manages to surprise defenses with his willingness to launch shots from deep, as he did against the Philadelphia 76ers. In a game where he scored a season-high 43 points with eight 3s, Lillard demonstrated his ability to catch opponents off guard with his range.
Lillard’s Iconic Shots and Unconventional Shooting Form
Two of the most memorable shots in Lillard’s career came against the Houston Rockets in the 2014 playoffs and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2019 postseason. Both were not only game-winners but series-winners. His 37-footer over Paul George, followed by a wave goodbye to the Thunder, remains etched in NBA history.
Lillard’s unique shooting stroke is a key factor in his success. He rests the ball on his palm before flicking it off his fingers, a technique he developed after his father urged him to shoot off his fingertips. This unconventional form has become one of the most productive in league history.
Consistency is another hallmark of Lillard’s shooting. Over the past five seasons, the duration of his 3-point shot attempts has remained steady, taking an average of 0.38 seconds to release his shots from the arc. This consistency gives him an edge in the 3-point contest, where maintaining the same form from shot to shot is crucial.
As Lillard returns to the Bay Area, he reflects on his journey from a kid in Oakland to an NBA superstar. “I really grew up in the real part of Oakland,” he says. “So to be coming back home at 34 and all of these people really know me, I think that makes me look forward to it a little bit more because they really know I got it out the mud for real.”
ESPN’s Jamal Collier and ESPN Research’s Matt Williams contributed to this story.
Originally Written by: Chris Herring
