Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns won the 2022 NBA All-Star 3-Point Contest in record fashion, becoming one of the tallest players to do so at 6-foot-11.
He won it in a style by beating guards Hawks’ Trae Young, whose range extends to midcourt, and Clippers’ Luke Kennard, one of the game’s most efficient long-distance shooters.
Towns scored 29 points in the final to surpass Kennard by three. Neither Kennard or Young had a chance to tie or beat Towns with their final shot. He became the tallest winner since 7-0 Dirk Nowitzki in 2006 and the first center to do so.
Towns is on record proclaiming himself “the best-shooting big man of all time” and said Saturday’s win is “a nice thing to put on my resume.”
“I’m super happy to win,” he said. “I have such high standards for myself. Nobody can be harsher on my game than me. I didn’t come here to compete. I came here to win.”
Towns is shooting 41% from deep this season and 39.6% for his career. He said he’d been “begging the NBA for years” to participate and was motivated when the call finally came to be a contestant in Cleveland.
Towns said he was an underdog in the contest “because I’m a big” and was anxious to make a statement.
“This is for all the tall kids who were told they can’t succeed unless they play with their back to the basket,” he said.
