Anyone who watches the modern NBA knows that Stephen Curry is the greatest shooter to ever play the game. He’s a lights-out deep threat who can hit from just about anywhere on the court. So, it comes as no surprise he’s seen his fair share of Three Point Contests.
Stephen Curry has taken part in the Three-Point Contest seven times (2010, 2013-16, 2019, 2021), and won twice (2015, 2021).
This guide covers those competitions and shows how many Curry managed to win. That history will reflect on his career, the other great shooters he’s gone up against, and give some extra insight into the competition as a whole.
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The Difficult Competition
There’s no doubt that the Three Point Contest is hard to win. While many great shooters have entered it over the years, only seven have managed to win it more than once. Larry Bird and Craig Hodges both won it three times, and five other athletes took it down twice.
As you might imagine, Curry is one of those five. He shares that position with Peja Stojakovic, Jeff Hornacek, Mark Price, and Jason Kapono. There have been nearly forty Three Point Shootouts on All Star Weekend, and only seven have come away repeat winners.
That ratio shows how tough it is to take the title. Doing it once is something relatively few people have done, and winning it twice is even more rare. In fact, Curry is the only player to get two wins within the last decade.
A Hot Hand
Often, Three Point Contests are all about getting hot at the right time. Most players hit a run during the shootout where they streak to victory. That’s especially true for repeat winners, as they ride multiple strong shooting years to multiple titles.
In fact, every single winner who won more than one contest did it in a row. Larry Bird won the first three in the late 1980’s and Hodges won from 1990 through 1992. Even Jeff Hornacek won back-to-back despite there being a gap year due to the 1999 NBA lockout.
That makes Curry special because he’s the only multi-time champion who doesn’t fall into that category. He won his first contest in 2015 and didn’t take home his second until coming back with a vengeance in 2021.
Curry, Cooking
It may seem surprising that someone as good at three shooting as Curry only has two wins rather than three, but it’s not for lack of trying. He’s been in seven different contests, which shows just how difficult it is to overcome other great shooters each and every year.
The first he won in 2015 was against James Harden, J.J Reddick, Marco Bellinelli, Kyle Korver, Wesley Matthews, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson. In 2021 he beat out other great shooters Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, and Zach LaVine.
That’s a high level of competition that shows who Curry has had to beat. He’s also lost to a range of amazing three point shooters, including Eric Gordon, Devin Booker, and his teammate Klay Thompson.
All of that considered, Curry’s two wins are quite impressive. Even more so is that, despite only having two titles, he has the most points anyone has ever gotten in the contest (31). That’s another notch on his belt that he can add to his already impressive three-shooting resume.
Final Words
The Three Point Contest is not something that matters in terms of legacy or on-court achievements, but it’s a fun title that many people love to own. Curry may only have two, but he’s one of seven players to ever do so. That itself puts him in an exclusive club.
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