With the NFL season over and the Kansas City Chiefs becoming back-to-back Super Bowl champs, hockey and basketball will be getting more views on TV. Perfect timing for the NBA, because in a couple of weeks, they will be having their annual all-star weekend. The weekend is full of activities for players and fans alike. On Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium, there will be the Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game beginning at 7 PM.
The celebrity game will feature people like Kai Cenat, Jewell Lyod, Michah Parsons, Dylan Wang, Adam Blackstone, Metta World-Peace, AJ McLean, and CJ Stroud. Across the street from Lucas Oil at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Panini Rising Stars games will take place. This event features young players on the rise like Paolo Banchero from the Orlando Magic, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren from the Detroit Pistons, and Keegan Murray from the Sacramento Kings. This event will be a tournament-style competition between 4 teams. The teams will play each other and be coached by Pau Gasol, Tamika Catchings, Jalen Rose, and Detlef Schrempf. The bracket has yet to be announced.
Saturday for All-Star Weekend is full of even more activities for fans to attend. Starting at 11 AM, the NBA all-star practice begins at Gainbridge Fieldhouse; after the practice, around 2 PM the HBCU Classic game between Winston-Salem State will square off against Virginia Union. Once the game concludes, the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, will be hosting a press conference before the Saturday night action. With the Lucas Oil Stadium hosting, events will run as so: starting with the Kia Skills Challenge, then with the Starry 3-Point contest, followed by Steph Curry and Sabrina Ionescu facing off in a 3-Point contest of their own. Once that comes to a close, the AT&T Slam Dunk contest will start.
For the Kia Skills challenge, three teams compete against each other. The first team is Team Pacers, featuring all-star Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, and Myles Turner. The second team is Team Top Picks, supporting some recent number-one overall draft picks: Paolo Banchero, Anthony Edwards, and rookie Victor Wembanyama.
Participating in the Starry 3 Point Contest, are Malik Beasly, Jalen Brunson, Damian Lillard, Tyrese Haliburton, Lauri Markkanen, Donovan Mitchell, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Trae Young.
Finally, capping off Saturday night is the dunk contest. This will feature returning champion Mac McClung, Jalen Brown, Jacob Toppin, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. These guys will put their athleticism on full display as they complete and show off tricks while dunking a basketball.
On Sunday, there is the G-League Up Next game, which will be filled with a variety of players. After that, starting at 8 PM, the NBA All-Star game will tip off. This game is headlined by LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounpo. The format of the game is East vs West and features players like, Steph Curry, Nikola Jokic, Tyrese Haliburton, Joel Embiid, Damien Lillard, Kevin Durant, and Luka Doncic.
Make sure to stay tuned and look forward to this highly-anticipated and exciting event!
