Oklahoma basketball: Former Sooner Buddy Hield to compete in NBA’s 3-point contest

Former Oklahoma basketball star Buddy Hield is one of eight participants who will take part in the three-point shooting contest during NBA All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This will be Hield’s third appearance in the three-point contest, one of the fun events associated with the NBA All-Star festivities. He was a participant, and he won the event in the 2019-20 season.

The three-point contest will take place on Saturday night along with the always-popular slam dunk contest.

Hield is the Oklahoma career leader in three-point shooting and he leads the NBA this season with 224 made three-balls and averages 42.3 percent from three-point range. The former Sooner and native of the Bahamas is in his seventh NBA season and second with the Indiana Pacers.

He’s averaging 17.4 points for the Pacers this season and has played in all 59 of Indiana’s 2022-23 games.

Hield played at Oklahoma from 2012-2016 and averaged 21.4 points a game in his four seasons as a Sooner, including leading the team to the Final Four his senior season in 2016. He was the Wooden and Naismith Award winner as college basketball’s player of the year that same season.

Hield is the only former Oklahoma star to win the NBA three-point contest. His winning tally in 2020 was 27 out of 40.

The other participants in this year’s three-point competition are Hield’s fellow Indiana teammate Tyrese Haliburton, Tyler Hero of the Miami Heat, Kevin Huerter of the Sacramento Kings, Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons of the Portland Trail Blazers, Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics.