Late in Monday’s loss against the Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans launched a garbage-time 3-pointer from well beyond the arc and hit nothing but net.
The shot could have been taken as one last argument for the Latvian sharpshooter to be part of All-Star Weekend.
The NBA agreed.
Bertans will be a participant in the league’s 3-point contest later this month, the NBA announced Tuesday. The event will take place Feb. 15 at the United Center in Chicago, where Bertans will join seven other players.
Bertans is shooting 42.9% from deep this season, taking a career-high 8.2 attempts per game. The 27-year-old was traded to Washington this offseason after spending the first three years of his career with the San Antonio Spurs. He is in the last year of his contract, which could make him a candidate to be traded before Thursday’s trade deadline.
Bertans will compete against Chicago’s Zach LaVine, Atlanta’s Trae Young, Brooklyn’s Joe Harris, Portland’s Damian Lillard, Miami’s Duncan Robinson, Sacramento’s Buddy Hield and Charlotte’s Devonte’ Graham. Harris won the contest last year.
This year’s contest will be played under a slight tweak to the format. Players will now have 70 seconds to complete the round instead of 60. The NBA also added two, one-ball racks between the top and adjacent of the wings, worth three points for a make rather than two. A perfect score in a round will now be 40 points instead of 34. The event will still consist of two rounds, with the top three players from the first round advancing to the final.
Nicknamed the “Latvian Laser,” Bertans ranks fifth in the NBA with 3.2 3-pointers per game.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.