The five best NBA 3-point contests ever

1. 1986

Participants: Larry Bird, Craig Hodges, Trent Tucker, Dale Ellis, Kyle Macy, Sleepy Floyd, Leon Wood, Norm Nixon

Okay, so this may not be the most competitive contest of all time but it was the very first one and the legend surrounding it is what puts it in the top spot. The NBA All-Star Game had become a great attraction and just a few years earlier, the dunk contest had been revived and an old-timers game was also a part of the new All-Star Weekend. But the old-timers game just wasn’t cutting it and the league decided to try something new. The concept had been tested in the CBA but didn’t come off very well. However, that may have been due to the fact that their players just weren’t as good. So they went ahead with the idea and were ecstatic when Larry Bird said that he would take part in the initial contest. Bird would bring a lot of star power to the event, much like Dr. J had when he agreed to take part in the dunk contest two years earlier. And things only got better from there.

Many of the NBA’s best shooters had signed up for the contest and they were all told to gather for a meeting about half an hour before they were to take the court. And seven of the names you see above showed up but Bird was nowhere to be found. And then all of a sudden, he comes through the door, looks at his competition and simply asked which one of them was coming in second. That’s how legends are born and that’s how the 3-point contest got started. And then, of course, he went out there and backed it up. But not before getting a little competition. Bird actually sat in fourth place following the opening round after scoring 16 points. He had been beaten by Dale Ellis at 17, Trent Tucker at 19 and Craig Hodges, who had come out firing with 25 points, a record that wouldn’t be tied until Jason Kapono did it in 2008 and wouldn’t be broken until Curry scored 27 in 2015, but that was with the new 34-point max format. But Bird was confident that if he could get through the first round, he’d be okay.

He led the way with 18 points in the semifinal round while Hodges and Ellis tied at 14 and Tucker came in with 13. Hodges would go on to beat Ellis in a shootout for the right to face Bird in the finals but it didn’t matter at that point. Larry Legend had warmed up and slaughtered Hodges in the final round, 22-12, winning the first of his three consecutive titles.

And to think, Bird almost never even competed in the event. It wasn’t until his Celtics teammate, Robert Parish, told him that he couldn’t win it and it’s really not like Larry Bird to back down from a challenge, is it?

Next: The 5 best NBA All-Star Games ever

What was your favorite NBA 3-Point Contest? And who do you think will take home the crown this weekend? Please feel free to join in the conversation in our comments section below and be sure to check back in with FanSided all week as we prepare for this weekend’s festivities in New Orleans.