Kobe Bryant Says He'd Try 3-Point Contest, Teases Marco Belinelli

Kobe Bryant has never been one to shy away from competition.

So his desire to give the NBA Three-Point Contest a go probably isn't too surprising. He shared his thoughts on being in the field next year, and had some fun at current champion Marco Belinelli's expense at the same time:

I'll trust Kobe on the air ball claim, mostly because I don't think even I'd shoot so many if given the opportunity.

I also wouldn't put it past him to win the thing. Sure, Kobe's never been a great three-point shooter (he's at 33.5 percent for his career), but we all know he can get hot from anywhere.

On Jan. 7, 2003, Bryant set an NBA record by hitting 12 threes in a single game against the Seattle Supersonics:

In addition to that, Kobe's had plenty of time to work on his shooting over the last couple of seasons because of various injuries. Once you get to a point where you can jump a little, shooting becomes an important part of rehab for leg injuries.

If he did decide to go ahead and throw his name in the ring, it would certainly add plenty of excitement. And the over/under on Kobe air balls would probably be 0.5.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats are courtesy of Sports-Reference.com and NBA.com and are current as of Feb. 16, 2014.

Andy Bailey covers the NBA for Bleacher Report.

Follow @AndrewDBailey