NBA All-Star weekend full schedule and how to watch
By Ben Handler
Sunday, February 18th
11:30 am EST: NBA Legends Award, NBATV
1:30 pm EST: G-League Up Next Game, NBATV
This is another mini-tournament featuring four teams made up of seven G-League players each. This event doesn’t exactly feature a lot of household names, but there are several guys with some NBA experience and some future draft prospects. This is mostly to be watched by the true sickos only, but if you are a diehard hoop head then you may enjoy this.
It’s disappointing we won’t get to see one of the top draft prospects in Ron Holland, who will miss the game with an injury. But there are plenty of other promising up-and-comers to watch, including Matas Buzelis, a projected lottery pick.
8 pm EST: 73rd NBA All-Star Game, TNT
All of that leads up to the main event, the actual All-Star game. This year it’s back to the East vs. West format, and they’ve ditched the Elam ending (no idea why). On paper, the West roster looks a lot better, and that’s magnified by the absence of Joel Embiid. But if you’re trying to handicap this game, there are a few factors that may favor the East.
For one, Indiana is the home team and I’m sure Tyrese Haliburton will want to put on a show, win the game, and maybe even win MVP for his hometown crowd. Another factor is the historic lack of effort (even by ASG standards) from some European players like Jokic and Luka. Beyond that, Giannis is consistently a pretty big try-hard in stuff like this and I could see him trying to establish his alpha status in this event.
And finally, I like the opportunity to fade Karl-Anthony Towns as a likely favorite here. That’s kind of an unnecessary potshot, but I already picked him to win the 3-point contest so I think it’s fair game. The West has the talent, but I’m not sure they’ll have the vibes. Either way, it should be a fun game to cap off a fun weekend.