Salt Lake City's Vivint Arena will be filled with shooting stars on NBA All-Star Saturday Night, and several will be competing in the 2023 3-Point Contest. The NBA All-Star Game appetizer will kick off with the Skills Challenge before Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and six other elite shooters take the floor. Defending champion Karl-Anthony Towns is injured, and past winners like Steph Curry and Joe Harris are sitting it out. That means there could be another surprise winner after Towns became the first center to win in last year's event. Buddy Hield, the 2020 champion, is the co-favorite with Lillard at +380 (risk $100 to win $380) in the latest 2023 NBA 3-Point Contest odds from Caesars Sportsbook. Tatum is a longer shot at +800, ahead of only Tyrese Haliburton (+900) and Julius Randle (+1200).
All-Star Saturday Night begins at 8 p.m. ET. The other contenders in the NBA All-Star 3-Point Contest 2023 field are Kevin Huerter (+450), Tyler Herro (+600) and. Lauri Markkanen (+650). Before locking in any 2023 NBA All-Star 3-Point Contest picks, be sure to check out what SportsLine's NBA expert Mike Barner has to say.
A respected NBA Fantasy expert, both season-long and daily, Barner's work has appeared in Sports Illustrated and on Yahoo, RotoWire and KFFL. He's also been featured on ESPN Radio. Barner digs deep into the data, examining team trends and projecting game outcomes.
Barner's expertise has been on full display over a wide sample. Over the past three seasons at SportsLine, Mike has crushed sportsbooks with a 425-343-12 record, returning $4,416 to $100 bettors on against-the-spread picks. He also has an incredible feel for NBA All-Star Weekend. In 2021, he nailed Steph Curry as the 3-point champ, and last year Barner hit his over/under pick on the All-Star Game. Anybody who followed his picks has seen huge returns.
Now, Barner has analyzed the NBA 3-Point Contest 2023 from all angles and just locked in his coveted picks and All-Star Weekend predictions. You can only see his NBA 3-Point Contest picks at SportsLine.
Top 2023 NBA 3-Point Contest predictions
In a stunning prediction, Barner is fading Lillard, one of the stars of the show and possibly the hottest player in the NBA right now. The 32-year-old has been on a dominant run, averaging 37 points over his past 20 games. He also is tied for second in the league in made 3-pointers with 4.2. That's behind only Curry (4.9) and tied with Klay Thompson, also a former 3-Point champ. But Lillard is well down the list in 3-point percentage, hitting 37.2% of his attempts this season.
Four players in Saturday's field have a better percentage for the season. The veteran has always been a streaky shooter and has hit less than 30% of his 3-point tries in three of his past five games. His past performances in the event don't lead Barner to believe he will catch fire Saturday. Lillard was in the 2014 and 2019 contests, and he didn't advance either time. He scored 18 points in 2014 and put up 17 in 2019, when five players scored at least 23 in the first round. You can see who to back in the NBA 3-Point Contest here.
How to make 2023 NBA 3-Point Contest picks
Barner is backing a player to win Saturday who has been a reliably strong long-range shooter his entire career. The expert also has a longer shot you should consider for your 2023 All-Star 3-Point Contest bets. You can only see who they are, and which NBA 3-Point Contest bets to back, at SportsLine.
So who wins the 2023 NBA 3-Point Contest? And which long-shot player has a chance to pull off a huge surprise? Visit SportsLine right now to get Saturday's 2023 NBA All-Star 3-Point Contest pick, all from the SportsLine expert who crushes the sportsbooks, and find out.
NBA 3-Point Contest odds, top contenders
See full NBA All-Star Weekend picks here.
Damian Lillard (+380)
Buddy Hield (+380)
Kevin Huerter (+450)
Tyler Herro (+600)
Lauri Markkanen (+650)
Jayson Tatum (+800)
Tyrese Haliburton (+900)
Julius Randle (+1200)
