By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

WHILE he’s still waiting on his first National Basketball Association’s All-Star game selection, Bahamian Chavano “Buddy” Hield of the Golden State Warriors gave it another gallant effort, but fell short by one shot in winning his second Starry 2-Point Contest trophy.

Tyler Herro, in becoming the fifth Miami Heat player to win the award, edged out Hield 24-23 on the 2025 State Farm All-Star Saturday night in the Chase Center in San Francisco, highlighted by his pair of starry three-point balls to seal the deal.

Hield, who made history tying his team-mate Stephen Curry’s record 31 points in the first round, needed to convert all of his five money balls on the final of the fifth rack to out-last Hero. 

Instead, he hit the first three, missed the fourth and completed the round with the fifth, only to fall short by one point. 

Herro, who led off the three-man final round, opened up with 24 points. Cleveland Cavaliers’ Darius Garland, the other finalist, followed with 19 and was eliminated. 

That set the stage for Hield as he attempted to add to his title he won in 2020 as a member of the Sacramento Kings in a 27-26 thriller over Devin Booker.

The 32-year-old Hield, who came into the league as the sixth pick in the 2016 NBA draft by the New Orleans Pelicans out of the University of Oklahoma, got off to an ice-cold start, missing all five of his shots on the first rack. 

Hield then missed the first two on the second rack before he converted his first three, including the money ball. He hit the starry ball and canned three of his five shots, including the money ball on the next rack. 

After he missed his second starry ball, he hit three shots, including the money ball on the third rack and completed the money rack with four of his five shots for a total of 23 points.

Hield, competing after New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson and ahead of two-time defending champion Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks, erupted for 31 points in the first round to tie Steph Curry’s all-time record. 

On the first rack, he hit three of his five shots, including the money ball for four points. On his second rack, he hit four of five, including the money ball for nine points. He knocked in the first of the two starry balls for three more points.

He hit three of five, including the money ball for another four points on his third rack. 

After hitting his second starry ball for three more points, he hit all five shots on the fourth rack for 25 going into the final rack. 

All he did then was hit the final three money balls on the final rack for 31.

The other competitors in the three-point shootout were Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham, New Jersey Nets’ Cam Johnson and Los Angeles Clippers’ Norman Powell, who all along with Brunson and Lillard, got eliminated in the first round.

Despite his loss, the 32-year-old Hield earned a pay cheque of $40,000, while Herro carted off $60,000.