INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Damian Lillard hasn’t played in a game this season for the Portland Trail Blazers as he recovers from an Achilles tear, but when he stepped on the court for Saturday’s All-Star 3-point shootout, it was Dame Time just as always.
Lillard won the competition with a final-round score of 29, edging Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker and Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel to win for the third time in the past four years.
Lillard joined Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only other three-time winners of the event, which started in 1986.
Lillard, 35, suffered a torn left Achilles in Game 4 of the Milwaukee Bucks ‘ first-round series against the Indiana Pacers in April and underwent successful surgery in May. Milwaukee waived him via the stretch provision in July, and he signed a three-year, $42 million contract to return to Portland, the franchise that drafted him and where he played his first 11 seasons.
He is the second player to take part in the competition while rehabbing a torn Achilles. Denver Nuggets guard Voshon Lenard won the 3-point competition in 2004 and then participated in the event in Denver in 2005 to defend his crown while he was recovering from an Achilles tear he sustained on opening night with the Nuggets.
