It’s official. The NBA announced Tuesday that the Nets Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie will get a chance to defend their skills titles at All-Star Saturday Night. Harris won the 3-point competition a year ago while Dinwiddie won the Skills Challenge two years back. He was injured last year so couldn’t defend his title in Charlotte.
The event will be held on February. 15 at 8 p.m. ET at United Center in Chicago and will be broadcast on TNT and ESPN Radio. Harris and Dinwiddie will be the only Nets to make the trip.
Harris is one of four Nets to participate in the 3-Point Contest and the first to appear in the event multiple times. In his inaugural appearance last season in Charlotte, Harris finished atop a 10-man field, besting Stephen Curry and Buddy Hield in the final round to earn the Nets’ first-ever 3-Point Contest championship.
Harris also led the league in 3-point percentage last season (.474), becoming the first Net to ever accomplish that feat and the third player in NBA history to win the 3-Point Contest championship and lead the league in 3-point percentage in the same season, joining Jason Kapono (2008 and 2007) and Tim Legler (1996).
Harris is fourth among active NBA players in career 3-point field goal percentage (43.2 percent), and his 3-point field goal percentage as a Net (42.7 percent) is the second-best in franchise history among qualifying players, trailing only Drazen Petrovic (43.7 percent).
Harris competition: Davis Bertans, Devonte’ Graham, Buddy Hield, Zach LaVine, Damian Lillard Duncan Robinson and Trae Young.
Dinwiddie becomes the first Net to participate in the Skills Challenge multiple times after winning the event in 2018 at All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. The L.A. native became the second Net to take home the trophy, joining Jason Kidd, who won the inaugural Skills Challenge in 2003. Dinwiddie took down Lauri Markkanen of the Chicago Bulls in the final round to claim the title. He is the fourth Net to compete in the event all-time.
In 49 games (34 starts) for Brooklyn this season, Dinwiddie is averaging a career-high 21.3 points with 3.3 rebounds and 6.4 assists in 31.1 minutes per contest. He has scored 20+ points a single-season career-high 30 times this season and has recorded seven 30-point games in the 2019-20 campaign after posting five such games in his first five NBA seasons combined.
His competition: Bam Adebayo, Patrick Beverley, Khris Middleton, Derrick Rose, Domantas Sabonis, Pascal Siakam, and Jayson Tatum.
Prior to being named, Dinwiddie expressed outrage that he hadn’t been called.
“Look at it like this: I won the Skills Challenge and didn’t get invited back,” Dinwiddie said after the Bulls game. “What does that f—in’ say? Have you ever met a winner of an award not get invited back? Now that s–t is pretty crazy. Folks don’t care about me. I’m Spencer. Quit playin.’
“I told you guys, it’s a popularity contest,” he added.
Then, on Monday, he apologized via Twitter.
The other night I was asked about participating in the Skills Challenge and I want to apologize for my comments. If I am given the opportunity again I am confident I could win it again and continue to represent the league and the Nets in positive way.
— Spencer Dinwiddie (@SDinwiddie_25) February 2, 2020
All’s well that ends well.