Feb. 14, 2026, 8:55 p.m. MT
INGLEWOOD, CA – Phoenix Suns five-time All-Star Devin Booker said he wasn’t aware how many points he had on that final rack with all 2-point money balls.
“I was just going,” Booker said.
Portland Trail Blazers superstar Damian Lillard certainly knew.
“At the end, I saw I was kind of at his mercy,” Lillard said. “I was like, man, he got to, these shots can’t go in.”
Unfortunately for Booker, they didn’t.
Booker missed his final three shots to finish second to Lillard, 29-27, in the 2026 NBA All-Star 3-point contest Feb. 14 at Intuit Dome.
“Noooooo,” NBC Sports NBA analyst Reggie Miller screamed during the broadcast. “Oh my goodness. Wooow. It was his to lose, and it wasn’t meant to be.”
Booker last competed in the contest in 2020 when Buddy Hield beat him on the final shot in Chicago.
He last won it in 2018 when Los Angeles last hosted All-Star weekend.
Booker was looking to revisit history in his fifth 3-point contest, but came up just short against Lillard, a now three-time 3-point contest champion.
“That’ll sit with me for some time,” Booker said about the final rack.
Lillard joined Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only three-time champions.
“It’s a great feat for him,” said Booker about Lillard. “Dame is somebody I have a lot of respect for. It’s his third time winning it. Somebody I was teammates with in the Olympics. Going into it, I thought it was going to be (Charlotte Hornets rookie guard Kon Knueppel) or Dame or me, and it ended up being the final round. Some good shooting going on.”
The 35-year-old Lillard has missed all season, working his way from an Achilles injury he suffered last season.
Booker said days before the contest that he felt Lillard would do well.
“I’m sure he’s been shooting a lot of spot shots through his recovery,” Booker said Feb. 10. “I think it was really cool that they included him.”
Lillard said a conversation with Michael Levine, the league’s senior vice president of entertainment and player marketing, about vacations led to him competing in the contest.
“It started off kind of a joke,” Lillard said. “I was talking to Levine about vacation, where I going and stuff like that, and I was like, ‘If you all need somebody to shoot, I’ll shoot, I’m available to do it’ and we laughed about it, and he was like, ‘It’s full right now. If something opens up, I’ll let you know.’”
Something opened up.
“(Levine) was like, ‘you know, were you serious about that?’” Lillard said.“And I was like, ‘You know that I’m always serious. If there’s a spot, sign me up.’ He was like, ‘Are you serious?’ I was like, yeah. Then he was like, ‘Well, what about your plans?’ I was like, ‘It’s just a detour. I’m going to come in there, shoot and then carry on.’ It was literally that simple. I said I would do it, and the next day I was in the competition.”
Lillard and Booker finished 1-2 in the field, followed by Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel, who reached the finals. Knueppel scored 17 in the final round.
“Kind of crapped the bed there in the second round,” said Knueppel, who scored 27 in the first round, as did Lillard. “It’s a long sit. Went first, and then it was like 30 minutes sitting down. It was tough to get loose again. Yeah, it kind of stinks.”
All-Star guards Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia 76ers), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers), Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets) and Norman Powell (Miami Heat), along with Milwaukee Bucks big Bobby Portis Jr. rounded out the eight-man field.
“Every day I’m up early in the morning, warming up and shooting the ball,” Lillard said. “Off the dribble, catch and shoot, every style of shot you can shoot, I’m shooting them every day, 100s of them. I knew that this would not be an issue for me.”
Lillard previously won it in 2023 and 2024.
“I can’t say I knew that I would win because you just never know, but I knew I would be able to be strong out there and have a chance to,” he said. “I came in confident. I’m fresh. I don’t have to go out there and play 40 minutes, 35 minutes. I think just having this year to be away, my mind and body is just fresh. So I came out there excited to do it, and that was it.”
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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