This weekend, the NBA’s finest will showcase their skills in a variety of events which will lead up to the All-Star Game.
Here’s what you can expect to see this weekend:
On Friday, you can catch the All-Star Celebrity Game with everyone from rapper Common to Jersey Shore’s Vinny Guadagnino competing. Dwight Howard and Kevin Durant will serve as captains of each team. The game starts at 4 pm PST on ESPN.
Later that night, a new format to the Rookies Challenge will take place with the Rising Stars Challenge. Rookies and sophomores will play together on teams managed by Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. A draft of the teams was held last week, and a surprise decision to add Heat rookie Norris Cole and the Knicks’ newest star Jeremy Lin has added some allure to the event. The rosters are stacked, from Blake Griffin and Ricky Rubio on Team Shaq to John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins on Team Chuck. The event starts at 6 pm PST on TNT.
On Saturday, a number of events will air. Saturday night All-Star coverage begins at 5 pm PST on TNT beginning with the Shooting Stars Challenge, then the Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest, and finally the holy grail of All-Star Weekend: the Sprite Slam Dunk contest. The dunk contest will also have a new format: only one single-round will be voted on solely by fans with the introduction of Twitter voting. All contestants are first-time dunkers.
On Sunday, catch the All-Star Game on TNT at 5:30 pm PST. Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant and others from the West will take on the East roster that includes Derrick Rose, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Paul Pierce.
