MADRID, 16 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, in Utah, will host from this Friday to Sunday the magic of the ‘All-Star’, the basketball festival in the United States whose main attraction will be the duel between ‘Team LeBron’ and ‘ Team Giannis’, which however will be marked by notable absences, in a weekend in which the traditional and expected skill contests, triples and dunks will also take place.
Just a few days after a “crazy” market with the departure of the Brooklyn Nets of Kyrie Irving, heading to Dallas, and Kevin Durant, to Phoenix, the “All-Star Weekend” arrives like “fresh water” to give a breather to the regular phase of the competition. With all the ingredients to offer pure spectacle, the house of the Jazz, however, will not be able to enjoy the injured Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry -fixed since 2014, with only one other loss due to injury- and Zion Williamson, in addition to the doubts of Joel Embiid and Jaylen Brown.
Faced with these setbacks, the NBA selected Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), De’Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings) and Pascal Siakam (Toronto Raptors) as substitutes for the injured. And also, ‘ascended’ to headlines the aforementioned Embiid, Lauri Markkanen and Ja Morant.
LeBron James, already established as the player with the most scoring in NBA history, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar by reaching 38,390 points, will lead one of the two teams for the sixth consecutive time, while Giannis Antetokounmpo, MVP of the League In the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons, he will be the other captain.
But its form of team selection changes, since the NBA has replaced the traditional ‘draft’ in which the captains chose their squires -a procedure that has been repeated since 2018- with a mode that will maintain uncertainty until the last minute. And it is that the respective teams with LeBron and Giannis at the head will be made in the middle of the track and 30 minutes before the start of the match, in the purest style of a ‘pachanga’ on the neighborhood track.
Taking into account the aforementioned casualties, the ‘rooster’ from which they will be able to select, after voting by fans and the media, will be the one formed by Kyrie Irving (Dallas Mavericks), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) , Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) -starters-, DeMar DeRozan (Chicago Bulls), Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics), Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks), Julius Randle (New York Knicks), Tyrese Haliburton ( Indiana Pacers) and Pascal Siakam (Toronto Raptors), from the Eastern Conference.
For their part, from the West, Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks), Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets), Ja Morant (Memphis Grisslies), Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz) – starters – Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento Kings), Shai Gilgeous could be selected -Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), Paul George (Los Angeles Clippers), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves) and De’Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings).
PAU GASOL WILL PARTICIPATE AS A COACH IN THE ‘RISING STAR GAME’
With the permission of the ‘Party of the Stars’, it will also have a lot of prominence on the night of the skill, triple and dunk contests. For the first, the three teams that will participate have already been confirmed, which are ‘Team Antetokounmpo’ with the brothers Alex, Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo; the host ‘Team Jazz’, with Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton; and the option of the rookies Paolo Banchero, Jaden Ivey and Jabari Smith Jr, in the ‘Team Rooks’.
Then it will be the turn of the triples, one of the most anticipated, given the growth of the NBA in specialist players from the perimeter. Without Curry, specialist and winner in 2015 and 2021, the list of players who will choose to be the successor to Karl Anthony Towns (Timberwolves) are Tyrese Haliburton (Pacers), Tyler Herro (Heat), Buddy Hield (Pacers), Kevin Huerter (Kings ), Damian Lillard (Blazers), Lauri Markkanen (Jazz), Anfernee Simons (Blazers) and Jayson Tatum (Celtics).
And Saturday’s party will culminate with Kenyon Martin Jr. (Houston Rockets), Mac McClung (newly signed by Philadelphia 76ers), Trey Murphy III (New Orleans Pelicans) and Jericho Sims (New York Knicks) battling it out for the best dunk. New this year will be McClung himself, a 24-year-old point guard who has only played two NBA games in his career, making him the first player from the G League (Delaware Blue Coast) to participate in this contest.
Finally, the Spanish participation in this ‘All-Star’ will be represented by the figure of Pau Gasol, who will be the coach of one of the four teams that will participate in the ‘Final Four’ format of the ‘Rising Star Game’. It will be the opportunity for the rookies, with ‘rookies’ like Paolo Banchero, Keegan Murray or Jabari Smith Jr; ‘sophomores’ like José Alvarado or Trey Murphy III; and some lucky ones from the Development League.
–SCHEDULE OF THE ‘ALL-STAR WEEKEND’ 2023
-Early morning from Friday the 17th to Saturday the 18th.
‘Rising Stars Challenge’ 3.00.
-Early morning from Saturday to Sunday.
Skill Contests 2.00.
Triple contest After the skills.
Maths contest After the triples.
-Early morning from Sunday to Monday
All-Star Party 2.00.