NBA ALL-STAR 3-POINT CONTEST

February 19, 2022

Luke Kennard

Press Conference

Q. I bet you want to take those points into the next round now.

LUKE KENNARD: Of course. Of course. Hey, man, credit to KAT. Came out. He said he needed to set the standard, so that's what he got to do.

Q. How did you feel about that first round score of 28 for you?

LUKE KENNARD: Felt good. Even though I was third, I was like, have to wait to see what the other guys do. I felt good about it, and I knew it was probably going to be one of the top scores, so I figured I would maybe be either second or last in the final, if I made it, so I don't know. Maybe I sat a little too long. What did I get? I don't even know what I got in the final.

Q. 26

LUKE KENNARD: 26.

Q. You and Trae had the same reaction.

LUKE KENNARD: I looked at the score. I had 10 points total. I couldn't beat him. It is what it is.

Q. You saw KAT get that 29, and knew --

LUKE KENNARD: That's a good score. I heard it might be one of the records or something for the finals or something like that. It was fun, man. It was fun.

Q. How do you feel about being a left-hander? Again, I get on you because you get to use both hands and get to work both hands, but there aren't a lot of left-handers even to do this competition. You and Mobley. How do you even go into it thinking there's not a lot of guys like me doing this?

LUKE KENNARD: It's cool. It's cool being one of the unique guys that are able to compete in something like this, and hopefully down the road I'm able to compete in even more, so I'll consider it a warm-up, I guess. It's cool.

I mean, I just got a different way of going about things, and kind of switches up the rhythm and how everything is going, but it's cool being the only lefty. Feels good. I wish I could have represented all the lefties with a win, but it's all good. It was fun.

Q. So you are saying you're not going to shoot that Mountain Dew with the right hand?

LUKE KENNARD: It's far. That's a far shot. I might have to throw it. I throw right-handed, so I don't know. We'll see. Maybe a little more practice, and I'll be good.

Q. How have you enjoyed the rest of this? I got to see you at the block, kind of watched you do your thing. Coming here for all the festivities, how do you rate it?

LUKE KENNARD: It's been awesome, man. To be back home in Ohio, you know, just to be around my family and friends, and I see a lot of familiar faces around, so it's been a lot of fun. It's my first time experiencing any of this, so I dreamed about it when I was a kid, grew up watching all these. And I joked around about how I'm not going to be in the Dunk Contest any time soon, but I'm just excited -- I'm excited to continue to work on this and hopefully get back to it in the next coming years.

Q. What do you got planned for the rest of the time? You going to watch the Dunk Contest? Are you going to watch the game tomorrow?

LUKE KENNARD: I'm going to watch the Dunk Contest and enjoy it now. I don't have anything much going on anymore, so watch the Dunk Contest, hang out with the family, watch the game a little bit tomorrow, and just get back to L.A. and just be there for the rest of the time, enjoy it, get some workouts in, and just be ready to go when I get back.

Q. Have you seen anybody that you haven't ever seen before, like a celebrity or a legend or retired Hall of Famer?

LUKE KENNARD: There are so many here. I feel like I've seen a lot, a lot courtside. It was a bright stage, that's for sure. A lot of big-time celebrities, big-time players that have played in this league out there watching, rooting for me. Hearing them yelling my name, it's pretty cool. Pretty cool to experience that, and I had fun with it, but, yeah, that's a lot of people. A lot of big-time people.