NBA All-Star 2019 Saturday Night Preview: Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest, and Dunk Contest

The fun continues tonight as the skills challenge, three-point shootout (featuring Danny Green!), and dunk contest tip-off at 8 p.m.

The NBA All-Star Weekend festivities continue tonight with NBA All-Star Saturday Night featuring the skills challenge, three-point contest, and dunk contest. This year, only one Raptor will be participating in Saturday’s festivities: Danny Green, shooting to win in the three-point contest. Still, All-Star Saturday Night always packs in fun no matter who’s participating.

Below is a preview of each event and the players participating.

Taco Bell Skills Challenge

The first event to kick-off Saturday’s festivities is the Skills Challenge. It’s a shame Pascal Siakam isn’t in this competition because he is certainly skilled as these players, if not better.

Also to note, Spencer Dinwiddie, who won it last year, will not be able to defend his title due to injury.

Here are the eight participants for this year’s competition:

Guards:

• Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks — 16.9 PPG | 7.6 AST | 40.6 FG% | 31.2 3PT%
• Mike Conley, Memphis Grizzlies — 19.9 PPG | 6.4 AST | 42.7 FG% | 35.4 3PT%
• Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks — 20.7 PPG | 5.6 AST | 43.0 FG% | 34.8 3PT%
• De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings — 17.2 PPG | 7.2 AST | 46.1 FG% | 36.6 3PT%

Wings/Bigs:

• Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics — 16.5 PPG | 1.9 AST | 45.3 FG% | 37.9 3PT%
• Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic — 20.5 PPG | 3.8 AST | 52.1 FG% | 38.0 3PT%
• Kyle Kuzma, Los Angeles Lakers — 19.1 PPG | 2.3 AST | 46.7 FG% | 31.9 3PT%
• Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets — 20.4 PPG | 7.7 AST | 50.5 FG% | 30.8 3PT%

*PPG = points per game, AST = assists per game, FG% = field goal percentage, 3PT% = three-point percentage.

Rules: The competition is broken up into two divisions, where one side features four guards and the other features four wings/bigs. Players from their respective divisions go head-to-head through an obstacle course where their ball-handling, passing, shooting skills, and speed are put to the test. The winner from the guards division and wings/bigs division will meet in the championship round to determine who wins the competition.

Here is last year’s skills challenge:

Mtn Dew Three-Point Contest

Following the conclusion of the Skills Challenge is the Three-Point Contest. This year, the competition expanded from eight players to 10, including the Raptors very own Danny Green. Devin Booker, who set a Three-Point Contest record with the highest score of 28 last year, will look to defend his three-point title. With many great shooters on hand, his record could be broken.

Here are the 10 shooters in the competition:

• Danny Green, Toronto Raptors — 9.8 PPG | 42.1 3PT% | 128 3PM | 304 3PA
• Joe Harris, Brooklyn Nets — 13.9 PPG | 47.1 3PT% | 132 3PM | 280 3PA
• Khris Middleton, Milwaukee Bucks — 17.1 PPG | 37.8 3PT% | 122 3PM | 323 3PA
• Kemba Walker, Charlotte Hornets — 24.9 PPG | 36.2 3PT% | 187 3PM | 517 3PA
• Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns — 24.6 PPG | 32.5 3PT% | 91 3PM | 280 3PA
• Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers — 26.3 PPG | 37.3 3PT% | 162 3PM | 434 3PA
• Seth Curry, Portland Trail Blazers — 6.2 PPG | 46.5 3PT% | 66 3PM | 142 3PA
• Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors — 28.6 PPG | 44.4 3PT% | 236 3PM | 531 3PA
• Buddy Hield, Sacramento Kings — 20.5 PPG | 44.9 3PT% | 195 3PM | 434 3PA
• Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks — 4.7 PPG | 30.9 3PT% | 25 3PM | 81 3PA

*3PM = three-point makes, 3PA = three-point attempts.

Rules: The 10 players will each have one minute to drain as many three-pointers as they can from five total shooting stations that contain five balls. Of the five stations, there are four stations that have four official NBA balls, which is worth one point, and one multi-coloured “money” ball, which is worth two points. The fifth station contains all money balls where the player can choose where to have it placed, either in the center, one of the two corners, or one of the two wings. The three players with the highest score advance to the championship round to determine a winner. In the event of a tie, a 30-second round will take place and whoever scores more, advances to the championship round. The same goes for the championship round, except it will be a 60-second round to determine the winner.

Here is last year’s three-point contest:

AT&T Slam Dunk Contest

The final event of the evening is the Slam Dunk Contest. Last year’s champion Donovan Mitchell will not defend his title because he is focusing and getting ready to make another second-half of the season run with his Jazz team. However, Dennis Smith Jr. is back in after he said he won’t be participating upon the conclusion of last year’s competition.

Here are the four dunkers:

John Collins, Atlanta Hawks — 19.1 PPG | 111 dunks

Dennis Smith Jr., New York Knicks — 13.7 PPG | 25 dunks

Miles Bridges, Charlotte Hornets — 6.5 PPG | 40 dunks

Hamidou Diallo, Oklahoma City Thunder — 4.2 PPG | 23 dunks

Rules: The contest is comprised of two rounds with each of the four dunkers having two dunk attempts in each round. The dunkers have three attempts to successfully complete a dunk. The contestants’ dunks will be judged by five judges, those being retired NBA players Dee Brown, Alonzo Mourning, David Thompson, along with WNBA stars in Los Angeles Sparks’ Candace Parker and Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson. The judges score each dunk from as low as six points to as high as 10. The lowest a player can score is 30 and the highest being 100. In the event of a tie in either the first or championship round, a dunk-off will occur where the dunkers will have one dunk attempt to achieve the highest score. The two dunkers with the highest point total from their two dunks will advance to the championship round. The dunker with the highest total in the championship round will be crowned champion.

Here is last year’s dunk contest:

Where to Watch:

TNT and TSN, 8 p.m.

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