Associated Press8:17 pm ET3 Minute Read
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo reunites with his brothers on All-Star Saturday. Portland’s Damian Lillard takes a third shot at the 3-point title that Indiana’s Buddy Hield will win again, and Philadelphia’s Mac McClung can now be an NBA and high school-level slam dunk champion.
The NBA has released the full roster for Saturday’s All-Star events in Salt Lake City: the Skill Contest, 3-Point Contest, and Dunk Contest. It’s going to be a particularly busy weekend for 11 players who will now take part in multiple events over the three days of action in Utah.
3-POINT COMPETITION
2020 winner Hield is back to try and become the 8th player with multiple 3-point crowns. He joins Indiana teammate Tyrese Haliburton, Portland duo Lillard and Anfernee Simons, Miami’s Tyler Herro, Sacramento’s Kevin Huerter, Utah’s Lauri Markkanen and Boston’s Jayson Tatum.
Hürter is one of four kings selected for the weekend.
“It’s exciting to be a part of this and to help represent the Kings at All-Star Weekend,” said Hurter. “We’ve got off to a great start, we can’t wait to see what this weekend is about and then we can’t wait to get back to work.”
Herro said he’s dying to come to Salt Lake City.
“I’m excited. I’ll try to win it,” said the heat guard. “I’ll just be me and I’ll be good. Shooters shoot.”
CHALLENGE OF SKILLS
Antetokounmpo is an All-Star captain and will pick a team that will oppose the roster being picked by fellow captain LeBron James on Sunday night.
But first, he’ll team up with his brothers – Thanasis and Alex – in the skills challenge, just like he did in Cleveland last year. They face two other teams, one hosted by Utah Jazz and the other made up of three top picks from last year’s draft.
The Jazz is represented by Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton. And Team Rooks consists of Orlando’s No. 1 pick Paolo Banchero, Houston’s No. 3 pick Jabari Smith Jr. and Detroit’s No. 5 pick Jaden Ivey.
It is a four round competition, the first three include shooting, passing and a relay. The top two teams after those events then shoot half-field shots to determine a winner.
DUNK COMPETITION
McClung won an All-American high school dunk contest in 2018 and is joined in the NBA dunk field by Houston’s Kenyon Martin Jr., New Orleans’ Trey Murphy III and New York’s Jericho Sims.
BUSY WEEKEND
Giannis Antetokounmpo will compete in two events during the All-Star weekend, with the Skills event being followed by the All-Star game itself the next night.
Also participating in All-Star Saturday and All-Star Game are: Tatum, Haliburton, Lillard and Markkanen.
It will be a doubleheader weekend for six other players who will compete in both Friday’s Rising Stars games and Saturday’s All-Star events: Ivey, Smith, Murphy, McClung, Banchero and Kessler.
REFEREE
John Goble, Mark Lindsay and Michael Smith were announced Tuesday as umpires for Sunday’s All-Star Game.
Brandon Adair, Ashley Moyer-Gleich and CJ Washington will take on the duties of running the Rising Stars games and Saturday All-Star events.
PROTECTED
Brooklyn, Charlotte and Washington do not have representatives traveling to All-Star Weekend. For the Nets, it’s a formality; Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were both selected All-Stars that season while playing for the Nets, and both were subsequently traded.