Thunder guard Isaiah Joe’s candid look at participating in the NBA’s three-point contest

Oklahoma City Thunder shooting guard Isaiah Joe addressed the prospect of participating in this year’s NBA three-point contest. After talking about the Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault’s selection for the All-Star Gamereporter asked Joe if he would be interested in participating in this year’s three-point contest at All-Star Weekend.

Joe wouldn’t go so far as to put his name in the ring, but he does will not refuse the opportunity if it occurred between now and mid-February.

“I’m just trying to win.” It’s not my job to look after that. If they put me there, I would appreciate the opportunity,” Joe said. “But, at the moment, I’m just trying to win, keep improving, personally and through the team.” It’s that simple.”

For the second time this month, Joe made eight three-pointers in a game in the Thunder’s 127-101 win against the Brooklyn Nets and is shooting 49.2% from behind the three-point arc.

“I’m just a guy that’s constantly working on my shot, knowing that teams are going to have different types of game schemes for me,” Joe said. “But the guys that we have on this team that believe that they’re going to find me, they believe that I’m going to knock down those looks that I get when I’m out there. So it’s just a combination of my confidence, the work I put in and being able to give my teammates the extra pass.”

Perhaps his recent jump in shooting will lead to Isaiah Joe taking part in this year’s three-point contest.

Mark Daigneault on Isaiah Joe’s elite shooting for the Thunder

After Sunday’s win against the Nets, the Thunder’s head coach Mark Daigneault talked about Isaiah Joe’s recent shooting.

“He’s like all these other guys we’ve talked about where we’re willing to take a step back to take two steps forward,” Daigneault said. “Up until this point, he’s been kind of a stationary shooter, which, especially with Shai, is really powerful, with the gravitas that Shai has, just to throw in the four and shoot.” We think it has more because of its speed, its engine and its gravity. So we put it in motion more, checked more things through it.”

Joe has connected on 13 of 21 3-pointers in his last three outings.

“He went through a little bit of growing pains there and from then on he got into a good rhythm and had another night like New York where he just put a bunch of shots together,” Daigneault added. “And (it) really opened up the game very early for us.”

The Thunder will host the Jazz on the first night of back-to-back games at the Paicom Center.