All-Star Saturday night is one of the most exciting nights in the NBA, with four unique events and various participants, including NBA and WNBA stars and NBA legends. The four events consist of the Degree Shooting Stars, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, and Sprite Slam Dunk.

On Thursday evening, TNT officially announced all the contestants for each of these events.

The Degree Shooting Stars is an event where four teams, with each team consisting of a current NBA player, NBA legend, and a WNBA star, showcase their sharp-shooting skills from four different locations on the court. It is a timed event, and the team that makes all four shots the fastest, wins. Team Bosh, which included Chris Bosh, Dominque Wilkins, and Swin Cash, has won this event the past two years.

The participants for this year will be Team Bosh, Team Curry, Team Westbrook, and Team Davis.

Team Bosh returns with the same trio and will look to three-peat. Team Curry will include Stephen Curry, Dell Curry, and Sue Bird. Team Westbrook consists of Russell Westbrook, Penny Hardaway, and Tamika Catchings. Lastly, Team Davis will have Anthony Davis, Scottie Pippen, and Elena Delle Donne.

The Taco Bell Skills Challenge features the NBA’s best guards in a timed event where each player will complete an obstacle course consisting of passing, dribbling, and shooting stations. It is a two-round event, and the fastest time wins the contest. Damian Lillard and Trey Burke shared the win last year for Team West.

This year, the challenge will feature Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, Isaiah Thomas, Jeff Teague, Brandon Knight, Michael Carter-Williams, Trey Burke, and the speedy John Wall, and the format will be different. This time, there will be a bracket with two players going head-to-head on the floor at the same time, winner moves on to the next round.

The Foot Locker Three-Point Contest is simply a three-point shootout between the best long-distance shooters in the league. Each contestant has 60 seconds to get through six stations consisting of five balls, including a colorful money ball which is worth two points. Marco Belinelli of the San Antonio Spurs captured the victory last year.

This year, we have an incredible line of shooters in the competition, including the Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Kyle Korver, Wesley Matthews, J.J. Redick, James Harden, 2013 three-point champion Kyrie Irving, and defending three-point champion Marco Belinelli.

Korver is shooting an NBA-best 53.2 percent from long range but is second to Wesley Matthews in three-pointers made at 149. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson follow suit with 147 and 145 three-pointers made, respectively, which is third and fourth place in the league. James Harden has accumulated 130 threes this season which is fifth in the league. J.J. Redick is eighth with 114 made threes, and Kyrie Irving is 12th with 100 made triples. Meanwhile, Marco Belinelli hasn’t seen much action this season, hitting 39 threes on 38.2 percent shooting.

The Sprite Slam Dunk is the fourth and final even of the night, and the most highly anticipated contest every year. It is simply a dunk competition between four players who display their athleticism and creativity in two rounds with two dunks per round, in which five judges will score every dunk on a scale of six to 10. Last year, John Wall notched the victory with a spectacular reverse dunk over the Washington Wizards mascot, G. Man.

This year, as announced last week, we have four, young and athletic first and second year competitors – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Oladipo, Zach LaVine, and Mason Plumlee. For each of these players, this will of course be the first time participating in this activity, but these young guys could definitely soar.

All-Star Saturday night will be televised on TNT on February 14 at 8:30 pm ET.   

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About the author
Vahan Shakhpazyan
Vahan Shakhpazyan loves the NBA with a passion and has been an avid follower for 18 years. He is a UCR graduate with a BA degree in Creative Writing. The man behind the Facebook page NBA updates.