Saturday, February 17th
11 am EST: NBA All-Star Practice, NBATV
2 pm EST: HBCU Classic, Winston-Salem State vs. Virginia Union, NBATV/ESPN2?TNT
7 pm EST: Commissioner Adam Silver news conference, NBATV
8 pm EST: State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, TNT
- Kia Skills Challenge
In this event, we get a matchup between a team of hometown Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, and Myles Turner, a team of All-Stars with Tyrese Maxey, Trae Young, and Scottie Barnes, and a team of #1 overall picks with Paolo Banchero, Victor Wembanyama, and Anthony Edwards. This should be a fun event, but I’m going to go with the hometown Pacers, as I’m expecting they’ll be the most motivated group.
- Starry 3-Point Contest
In recent years this has become the most star-studded event of the night, which is a far cry from the glory days of the dunk contest. This year is no exception with the defending champion, Damian Lillard, plus Malik Beasley, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, Lauri Markkanen, Donovan Mitchell, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Trae Young slated to participate in this year’s event. All of these players are great shooters, more than capable of winning. I’m going to go with Towns, as he has the set shot to consistently bury shots all night.
- Stephen vs. Sabrina 3-Point Challenge
This is a brand new event that will be a shooting contest between Stephen Curry and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu. Both players will be playing for charity, but I’m sure their pride and competitive spirit will make this a fun and exciting event. I’ll take my chances picking Sabrina in this one, as I think she’ll be more motivated to win and have more to prove.
- AT&T Slam Dunk
The event of the night… or is it? The defending champ, G-Leaguer Mac McClung will look to defend his title against fellow G-Leaguer Jacob Toppin, Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown. Anyone who has complained about the death of the dunk contest in recent years needs to root for Jaylen Brown with all their might. An All-NBA player who just got PAID with nothing to gain and everything to lose is trying to save the contest, and we as fans need to appreciate that. If he loses, he’ll get clowned for losing to scrubs. If he wins, people will say he was just facing scrubs anyway. It’s really a no-win scenario for him, and yet he’s still doing it because he’s a hell of a dunker and athlete. Here’s to hoping Jaylen wins, gets his flowers, and paves the way for other young stars to participate in the future and return us to the glory days of dunking.