MIAMI _ Wayne Ellington has received an invitation to the 3-point shooting contest during All-Star Weekend, ESPN reported Thursday.
The event is Feb. 17 at Staples Center and will be Ellington's first appearance in the contest.
"It's been one of my individual goals coming into this league to get into the 3-point contest, and win it _ most importantly," Ellington said after Wednesday's practice at AmericanAirlines Arena. "It's something I definitely want to compete in."
The Heat attempted to boost Ellington's candidacy with a #WE2LA Twitter campaign.
"I never felt like I thought I should have been," Ellington said earlier this season of previous All-Star Weekends. "But I've never gotten the opportunity as much as I've been here with Miami."
Ellington went into Thursday's game against the visiting Sacramento Kings fourth in the NBA in 3-point conversions, at 140, one behind Warriors guard Stephen Curry, otherwise behind only the 162 of James Harden and 154 of Klay Thompson. He went into Thursday 28th in the NBA in 3-point percentage, at .406.
Previously linked to berths in this year's contest include Thompson, Kevin Love, Bradley Beal.
The NBA often attempts to get at least one representative from teams, whenever possible, to All-Star Weekend, with the Heat lacking a player selected for the Feb. 19 All-Star Game. Rookie center Bam Adebayo was bypassed Wednesday when the selections were made for the Feb. 17 Rising Stars Challenge game. The Heat also are not expected to have a player selected for the dunk contest.
The Heat have had six previous representatives to the 3-point contest. Jon Sundvold represented the franchise in its first two seasons, placing fifth in 1989 and third in 1990. Glen Rice then placed seventh in 1991 and won in 1995. Jason Kapono won in 2007. Daequan Cook then won in 2009 and placed in a tie for fourth in 2010. From there, James Jones won in 2011 and placed third in 2012, with Mario Chalmers fourth that year.
In other words, this has been a franchise that has played to win in the competition.
The irony is that it has been constant movement that has led to Ellington's 3-point renaissance these past two seasons, constant running defenders off screens, rarely not racing toward a quick-trigger release. In the contest, it is as simple as standstill shooting and then moving purposefully between five ball racks.
The soft-spoken 30-year-old said he can maintain his sweet spot with such an approach, as well.
"I mean, I work on that every day, just standing still, catch and shoot from one spot," he said. "So I think I'm pretty good at it."
