Washington Wizards: Dāvis Bertāns deserves to be in the 3-point contest

NBA All Star weekend is about a month away and there’s at least one of the Washington Wizards that deserves to be represented: Dāvis Bertāns.

Dāvis Bertāns is having a career year for the Washington Wizards, especially from deep. The 6’10” Latvian Laser is averaging almost twice as many points, and a large part of that jump is that he’s averaging almost twice as many three-point attempts.

And he’s hitting them at a career rate as well, shooting 43.4% from deep. Good enough for 7th in the entire league among active players that have shot at least 100 three-point attempts.

If Bertāns doesn’t make the 3-point contest, the snub will be absolutely criminal. This dude is dropping daggers in D.C. and he’s showing no signs of slowing down. In the three games he’s played in January since returning from injury, he’s averaging 44% from behind the line.

There were 10 contestants in the 2018-19 NBA 3-point contest, and their average 3-point percentage at the end of the year was 39.8% on 6.7 attempts. Devin Booker, Seth Curry, Stephen Curry, Danny Green, Joe Harris, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton, Dirk Nowitzki, Kemba Walker, and Buddy Hield were the contestants last year.

At the time of the contest, their average 3-point percentage was just slightly higher at 40%. If that’s the measuring stick, Bertāns clears it by a nice margin.

Bertāns has a higher 3-point percentage than 6 of the 10 contestants at the time of the contest last year, so he’s better than over half the field, and he’s shot more per game than 8 of them. Kemba and Stephen were the only two to take more attempts (Curry at a ridiculous 11.7 per game).

Wizards fans have bore witness to Bertāns’s insane range game after game, so it would be truly awesome for the rest of the NBA fans to see it on a larger stage.

Last year’s winner, Joe Harris AKA “Average Joe,” should be back in force. He wound up leading the entire NBA in 3-point percentage at 47.4% at the end of the season, and at the time of the contest he was shooting 45.3%.

But Average Joe is an anomaly. In the past decade, from 2010 onwards, he’s the only one to have led the NBA in 3-point percentage AND won the 3-point contest. Even Stephen Curry in 2015 didn’t end up leading the NBA in 3-point percentage.

The average percentage of winners of the contest over the past decade is 41.3%, by the way. With Dāvis Bertāns sitting at 41.2% on his career, and significantly better the last two years, he’s my pick to not only make the contest but to win the thing too.

Despite the rumors that Bertāns may be traded ahead of the deadline, he’s been absolutely crushing it in this dimension of his game. The All-Star weekend is meant to be a fun showcase of the NBA’s best talent and Bertāns clearly fits in that mold. Let the Latvian Laser shoot his shot and you’ll certainly get a show, NBA!