Damian Lillard hasn't played any games this season, out for the year with an Achilles tendon injury, but he's still going to compete and try to add another trophy to his shelf in the NBA 3-Point Contest set to take place in Los Angeles. He's not the first former champion to compete with an Achilles injury, and in fact, it was a former Nugget who showed that this can be accomplished.
Voshon Lenard became the first and only Nugget to win the 3-Point Contest in 2004. But he suffered an Achilles injury on opening night the following season, coincidentally in Los Angeles against the Lakers. I can still remember it. He went down in a heap over by the scorer's table. Nuggets fans were so jazzed to start the season, Melo's second. It's a small bump in the lore of Nuggets history, but it's the precedent that Lillard needed to know that competing was something he could do. And the NBA obliged.
Lenard did not repeat in 2005, but Lillard is currently seeing the second-best odds of the eight competitors scheduled to take part in the event. Jamal Murray, competing in his first 3-Point Contest is currently listed as the third favorite. Murray, shooting 43% from downtown, will also be playing in his first All-Star Game.
Other Nuggets have competed in the event
It's been a while since a Nugget has participated in the marquee event for NBA long-range threats. Before Murray, you have to go back to 2015, and Aaron Afflalo. Afflalo was traded shortly after the contest in a four-team deal and never played for the Nuggets again. Ironically, the pick he was traded for just made headlines in a bizarre update. Malik Beasley, currently out of the NBA pending results of a gambling investigation, has just signed to play with Bad Bunny's team in Puerto Rico.
Only two other Nuggets have competed in the event. Chauncey Billups took his shots in the 3-Point Contest in 2010. Like Murray, he also represented the Nuggets backcourt in the All-Star Game.
Finally, Dale Ellis competed twice for the Nuggets in the 90's. Ellis was regarded as one of the league's first true three-point specialists. He competed in the 1994 and 1997 competitions for Denver, and had previously participated in the inaugural 3-Point Contest in 1986, the first of four-straight appearances.
Nikola Jokic will be joining the busy Jamal Murray for the All-Star Game, a game in which the Joker may have a chip on his shoulder.