All-Star Weekend makes its way to Salt Lake City where all the stars will come out to shine!

Team LeBron will take on Team Giannis (we hope after today’s injury) in the main event on Monday, but there’s a few more events that need attending to first!

The Rising Stars Tournament kicks off festivities on Saturday, with a few Aussies in the mix.

Josh Giddey leads the way in Team Joakim, while Mojave King will feature in a G-League outfit coached by Jason Terry.

Giddey will have some serious length on his roster, led by Evan Mobley, Jabari Smith, Jeremy Sochan and Jalen Duren. Good luck scoring at the rim on this team!

Team Pau is slightly favoured to take home the title, led by number 1 pick Paolo Banchero and Bennedict Mathurin, they have some serious fire power offensively.

Team Deron was hit with a Jalen Green injury which hurts their cause, but will look for Franz Wagner and Alperen Sengun to get them into the final.

Rising Stars Prediction: Team Pau takes home the title in a tight one over Team Joakim!

The Skills Challenge opens up NBA All-Star Sunday, with the Antetokounmpo brothers looking to defend their crown.

Skills Challenge Prediction: The Jazz are favoured to take out the Skills Challenge, and will be too strong for the field in this one in their home arena, beating out the Rookies in the final.

 

The 3 Point Contest is always the best event at All-Star Sunday, and hopefully will be the main event in years to come, trumping the Dunk Comp!

Buddy Hield is favoured to take out the title, but will have to do so against All-Stars like Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, Lauri Markannen, Tyrese Haliburton and Julius Randle.

It’s a loaded field which makes the event so good to watch, but unfortunately had a casualty with someone who would’ve been a red hot chance of taking the crown out (Anfernee Simons) missing the contest through injury.

3 Point Contest Prediction: Damian Lillard is not participating for the sake of being a name in the event. He is going out to win the contest, showing the league that he is the best 3 point shooter going round! He’s never won the event, so will no doubt want to add this to his resume.

The final event of All-Star Sunday is the Slam Dunk Contest and it’s going to be hard to pick a winner in this field.

Mac McClung was an internet sensation in his high school years, and will be the first G-League player to feature in the event (recently signing a 2 way deal with the Philadelphia 76ers).

Jericho Sims is an athletic big for the Knicks who will try to win the event with some powerful dunks, while Trey Murphy III has plenty of length to come up with something creative in this one.

The name to watch though will be KJ Martin, son of former NBA star Kenyon Martin, and the kid has some incredible hops!

Slam Dunk Contest Prediciton: KJ Martin wins this here. He’s had some monster dunks in games this season, and will no doubt have something up his sleeve to take the title home to do his Father proud.

Monday gives us a school yard feel, with LeBron and Giannis drafting their teams just minutes before the game is set to tip.

Previously teams had been selected on the Friday before the event, but this year we see both LeBron and Giannis pick their peers in person.

First pick of the draft will have some serious bragging rights, while the last pick of the draft will have something to prove in the game (I know the feeling too well of being picked last!)

It’s hard to have any prediction in this one given we don’t have any line-ups set, but with LeBron taking home the last few contests, it’s hard to go past him in this year’s event.

Here’s hoping for a fun weekend of hoops!

Bauky