The NBA All-Star Weekend is 2 days away from giving the fans an action packed weekend to show off the NBA’s best and brightest stars to attract more fans to the product. It’s an ingenious way to mainstream the league to an audience that may not know who players are. In turn, it shows off each player’s talents hoping to turn them into a household name.
Friday

This Friday, The Celebrity Game kicks off All-Star Weekend on ESPN (can’t get any more mainstream than that) at 7pm EST.
Headlined by head coaches, Kevin Hart and Drake, this installment of the Celebrity Game features Team USA against Team Canada. This game will feature for the first time in a long time TRACY MCGRADY! if you do not know who he is: 

Besides WNBA’s Elena Delle Donne and former NBAer’s Chauncey Billups, Mugsy Bogues, thee really isn’t much to see here. Unless you’d like to see the “Property Brothers”, Anthony Anderson, Nick Cannon or Jason Sudekis to lace up the shoes, I’m pretty sure the only entertainment your gonna get is from a 5 nothing comedian and Mr. Hotline Bling trading barbs.

Following the Celebrity Game, The Rising Stars Challenge will take place at 9pm EST on TNT.

This game features Team USA versus The World. Team USA is headlined by top 5 picks of last years draft: two time Rookie of the Month Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor and DeAngelo Russell (without Byron Scott so watch him go off!). It will also feature former Dunk Champ and current participant Zach LaVine. 

The World Team features the rookie standout and ultimate underdog two time Rookie of the Month Kristaps Porzingis, dark horse Nikola Jokic, and Canada’s own, former Rookie of The Year Andrew Wiggins (which brings the total of T’Wolves to 3 in the game).

Be ready for high flying, up tempo non stop action provided by the leagues most brightest young stars it has to offer.

Saturday

At 2pm, The NBA D-League All-Star Game will be on NBA TV. Had to throw that in there. There may be some great young talent involved that will finally get the recognition they deserve.

On NBA TV at 7pm, Commissioner Adam Silver will be available to the media. I’m sure some of the hot topics that seem to be plaguing the league such as the 5 coach firings that have taken place this season, along with, the Hack-A-Player situation.

8pm on TNT is where all the fun begins. State Farm All-Star Saturday Night! 

First up, is the Taco Bell Skills Challenge that will feature for the first time, Frontcourt Players. 

Headlined by reigning champion, Patrick Beverly he’ll have to go up against: Draymond Green, Anthony Davis, CJ McCollum, Karl-Anthony Towns,Isaiah Thomas, Jordan Clarkson.

They will be challenging each other in an assortment of dribbling, passing, agility and three point shots in an obstacle course lasting 3 rounds. It’s a great showcase that the NBA still has and uses fundamentals in some accord.

The second event is the Footlocker 3-Point Shootout featuring reigning champ Steph Curry(45.3%), All-Stars Chris Bosh(36.5%), Kyle Lowry(39.7%), James Harden(35.4%), with Devin Booker (40.7%), Khris Middleton(40.6%) and J.J. Redick (47.8%).

This event features shooters and non-shooters of the NBA. I have no clue why they don’t use the top 8 three point shooters in the league? It would make it more interesting that a guy who shoots 35% throwing up bricks. If they do win, I’ll be shocked even though it’s not in a game situation.

Last on the menu for All-Star Saturday is the most exciting and popular contest of the weekend: The Verizon Slam Dunk Contest.

This event is headlined by Zach LaVine. He will be joined by super athlete Aaron Gordon, dark horse Will Barton and big man Andre Drummond. Seriously the Andre Drummond-Dwight Howard comparison is getting harder and harder to avoid as Drummond’s career keeps going. Let’s see if this will be Superman 2.0 taking flight in the contest.

Sunday

Sunday February 14th marks the 65th NBA All-Star Game. At  8:30pm on TNT, the best of the best in the NBA will square off in an exhibition style game that showcases the talents of each player sans defense.

The Western Conference All-Star Team:

Starters 

Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers 

Stephen Curry, Golden State 

Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City 

Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio 

Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City
Reserves 

Draymond Green, Golden State 

Klay Thompson, Golden State 

Chris Paul, L.A. Clippers 

James Harden, Houston 

DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento 

LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio 

Anthony Davis, New Orleans

The Eastern Conference All-Star Team:

Starters 

Carmelo Anthony, New York 

Paul George, Indiana 

LeBron James, Cleveland 

Kyle Lowry, Toronto 

Dwyane Wade, Miami
Reserves 

Jimmy Butler, Chicago* Replaced by Pau Gasol, Chicago

John Wall, Washington 

Andre Drummond, Detroit 

Chris Bosh, Miami 

DeMar DeRozan, Toronto 

Paul Millsap, Atlanta 

Isaiah Thomas, Boston 

The pool of players are ripe with talent to entertain the masses at every single second. The only things to look forward to is the pregame hypefest,  the 1st quarter dunk show, and the 4th Quarter crunch time Mano y Mano match up. 

This will also be Kobe Bryant’s last All-Star game as a participant. The leading vote getter this year with 1.9 million votes, will continue his send off tour with this mid season classic. He will be passing the torch off to the younger stars after his 18th All-Star Game appearance. This will be the last time fans will be able to see him on this type of spectacle since the Lakers aren’t any good. His contriubution to the All-Star Game and the former dunk champ will be appreciated by all, as we look from the past to the future of superstardom in the league.

Stats provided by basketball-reference.com