When it comes to Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, it will be all new for Miami Heat guard Norman Powell.

But when it comes to Saturday’s 3-point contest during All-Star Weekend, Powell is confident the jitters are gone.

Back in the event for a second straight year, Powell returns after being eliminated in last year’s first round.

That competition came in the colors of the Los Angeles Clippers, when he lost out to current teammate Tyler Herro, who took the 2025 title in the contest. This time, Powell will be on his former homecourt in Los Angeles in Heat colors, trying to make it back-to-back Heat wins, with Herro not competing as he deals with an ongoing rib injury.

Powell said he is poised for the challenge the second time around.

“Last year, I did the 3-point contest, that was fun,” he said. “It was my first 3-point contest I’ve ever done. I wasn’t a shooter growing up or even coming into the league. So even being invited the first time to do that, I think it was also just a testament to my hard work and the way I’ve continued to evolve my game, despite the critics or what was said about my shooting or my scoring coming into the league. So that was cool.”

Now proven in that regard, there is a desire to prove it on the type of national stage the Heat rarely have been afforded this uneven season.

“Coming back, I definitely wanted another crack at it now that I got the first nerves and everything out the way from that being my first time going through a contest like that,” Powell said. “So hopefully, this time around, I’ll be able to potentially win the thing.”

Besides Herro last year, previous Heat winners of the competition were Glen Rice (1995), Jason Kapono (2007), Daequan Cook (2009) and James Jones (2011).

In all, Heat players previously have made 14 appearances in the 3-point contest, when counting the two appearances apiece by Jon Sunvold, Glen Rice, Daequan Cook, Jones and Herro, and single appearances by Kapono, Mario Chalmers, Duncan Robinson and current Heat assistant coach Wayne Ellington.

The long view

No, Simone Fontecchio did not make it back to his native Italy to take in the Olympics, but the veteran Heat forward said the event has created an ongoing sense of pride.

“I think it’s great,” he said of taking in the Games from afar. “It’s just an opportunity for us, for our country, to show one more time how, like, beautiful our country is.

“Everybody who saw the opening ceremony, I think it was beautiful.”

Born in Pescara, to the east of Rome, Fontecchio said northern Italy was more of a summertime playground for his family.

“We would go out there in the summer, but obviously there’s not so much snow,” he said of the Olympic venues. “But we’ve been out there sometimes, for sure it is beautiful.”

Weekend snub?

Having spent so much time with the Heat on his two-way contract, guard Myron Gardner found himself squeezed when it came to the selections for the G League roster at Friday night’s Rising Stars during All-Star Weekend, as well as the G League All-Star Game there Sunday.

Their loss, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, with Gardner energizing the Heat in recent games while Powell, Herro, Pelle Larsson and Andrew Wiggins had been sidelined.

“It’s a great thing to watch,” Spoelstra said of Gardner’s energy. “This guy is just fighting and scrapping for everything and earning everything that he’s getting right now. But he makes you notice him. There’s a relentless energy and spirit to him, and effort and energy is a talent. It’s a skill. And when he’s out there, it becomes contagious.

“He’s filling the Pelle Larson role right now with that starting lineup, and he provides great energy and toughness with that group. And everybody roots for him. So that’s fun to see, including the staff, the players, everybody.”