
Richard Hamilton is set to join three other retirees, eight current players in All-Star weekend event.
The NBA is bringing back its Shooting Stars competition on All-Star weekend, and a former UConn great will play a prominent role.
Richard Hamilton is among the four retired NBA players to participate, with each set to join one of four teams that each feature two current players. The event will be held Feb. 14 event in Inglewood, Calif.
The Shooting Stars contest last made an appearance during the All-Star festivities in 2015.
Hamilton is part of Team All-Star, which pairs him with Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors and Chet Holmgren of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Team Cameron is filled with former Duke players -- Corey Maggette, along with Jalen Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks and Kon Kneuppel, a rookie sharpshooter with the Charlotte Hornets.
On Team Harper, NBA retiree Ron Harper will team with his sons -- Ron Harper Jr. of the Boston Celtics and rookie Dylan Harper of the San Antonio Spurs.
Team Knicks will put current players Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns on the court with retired guard Allan Houston.
The contest will be played in two rounds. Each team will compete in the first round and have 70 seconds to shoot from seven locations on the court to try to earn points. The two teams with the top scores will advance to the second round.
Hamilton posted a note on Instagram on Saturday directed toward Barnes and Holmgren.
“Let’s go Team All Star,” he wrote. “I guess I got to get this jump shot twerking again! See you next week.”
Among the hashtags he included was “#musclememory.”
Hamilton, now 47, was quite a shooter in his UConn days.
Over three seasons (1996-99) in Storrs, Conn., Hamilton averaged 19.8 points per game and shot 37.8% from 3-point range. As a sophomore, he hit 40.4% of his shots from long range and 84.3% from the foul line.
In his junior season, he was named a First-Team All-American, and the Huskies won the national championship. He was named the outstanding player of the NCAA Tournament.
Hamilton is second all-time on the UConn scoring list with 2,036 points, trailing only Chris Smith (1988-92), who scored 2,145.
The school retired his number 32 in 2004.
The Washington Wizards selected Hamilton with the seventh overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft. He appeared in 921 games (783 starts) with the Wizards (1999-02), Detroit Pistons (2002-11) and Chicago Bulls (2011-13) He won the NBA title in 2004 with the Pistons, then was named an All-Star in 2006, ’07 and '08.
For his pro career, Hamilton averaged 17.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
In the 2005-06 season, he averaged a career-high 20.1 points per game and shot an NBA-leading 45.8% from 3-point territory. He averaged 34.6% from long distance for his career.
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