NBA 3-Point Contest winners throughout the years: Complete list of triple threats

The 2024-25 NBA campaign is ostensibly flying by. Opening Night of the league's 79th season feels like it was just yesterday, yet All-Star Weekend (ASW) is suddenly upon us.

Chief among the annual star-studded slew of events is the Starry 3-Point Contest, featuring an exciting catalog of long-distance marksmen.

Two-time defending champion Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks headlines the eight-man group. But as you can see, he faces a stiff collection of challengers this year. Nevertheless, sportsbooks give him the shortest odds of winning the competition by a decent margin.

If the bookmakers are right and Lillard secures a third consecutive 3-Point Contest title at 2025 ASW in San Francisco, California, he enters rarified air. The future Hall of Famer would join an exclusive list of players who have pulled off a three-peat, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since the 1990s.

With that in mind, let's look at the complete list of NBA 3-Point Contest winners since its inception in 1986.

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NBA 3-Point Contest winners throughout the years: Complete list of triple threats

Lillard is the most recent of seven sharpshooters who have won back-to-back 3-Point Contests. However, only two players have done it thrice in a row: Boston Celtics icon Larry Bird and two-time NBA champion Craig Hodges.

Bird is one of the NBA's best shooters and among the most legendary players to grace the hardwood. He kicked off the 3-Point Contest by three-peating from 1986 to 1988, becoming the first to achieve the year-over-year hat trick.

Hodges played for four teams throughout his 10-year career in the Association, though his 3-Point Contest victories came with the Chicago Bulls. He was ahead of his time in terms of being able to light it up from beyond the arc. The sniper boasts one of the league's highest-ever three-point percentages.

All eyes will be on Lillard as he looks to further etch himself as one of basketball's most lethal riflemen from downtown.