Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Lauri Markanen watched from the sideline as Damian Lillard — the last person to go in last year's 3-point contest — knocked him out of competition.
Markkanen just missed out on competing in the finals last year in Salt Lake City, but he's getting another crack at glory this month in Indianapolis.
Markkanen has committed to, once again, compete in the NBA 3-point contest, which has turned into the premier event of All-Star Saturday (and maybe the entire weekend), according to a report from The Athletic.
The other commitments as of now include Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton, Milwaukee (and former Jazz guard) Malik Beasley, New York's Jalen Brunson and Lillard, the former Weber State legend and the event's reigning champ.
Markkanen is averaging 23.5 points and shooting 40.1% from 3-point range on a career-best 8.1 attempts; however, Markanen was not named to the All-Star team when the reserves were announced last week. But as one of the best big-man shooters of all time, he'll still have a place at the star-filled weekend.
Last year, after getting ousted by Lillard, Markkanen said he would welcome the chance to do the competition again.
"Yeah, that was a lot of fun, and I think I can compete with those guys. It just wasn't my day today," he said.
Maybe it will be in a couple weeks.
