The NBA All-Star break is finally here. One week after Super Bowl LVII, 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend is here. Here are five things to watch throughout the weekend.
Team Antetokounmpo
NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and his two brothers, Alex and Thanasis, are teaming up to participate in the Skills Challenge together at Saturday Nigh’st festivities.
Mac McClung
While Alex Antetokounmpo is in the G-League participating in the Skills Challenge, Mac McClung is set to become the first G-League player to participate in the Slam Dunk contest. Standing at 6-foot-2, McClung was a viral sensation coming out of high school for his in-game dunking.
Pre-game draft
For the first time, All-Star team captains Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James will select their teammates an hour before the game. The captains have previously selected their teams a week before the game. The league will also honor James at halftime for breaking the all-time scoring record. Nigerian performers Burna Boy, Tems and Rema have been tapped to for the halftime show.
The Karl Malone reception
Utah Jazz legend Karl Malone will be a Dunk Contest judge. The Internet hasn’t been the biggest fan of Malone, the third all-time leading scorer, since it came out he once got a 13-year-old girl pregnant when he was a 20-year-old college basketball star at Louisiana Tech. The child, Demetress Bell, played four seasons in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles from 2009-2012.
How Malone is received will be interesting in a town where he was embraced as a player, but it comes at a time when society has held public figures more accountable for their personal lives past.
Candace Parker makes history
Candace Parker is set to become the first female in-game color commentator for the actual All-Star Game on Feb. 19. On the court, Parker is a two-time WNBA MVP, seven-time All-Star, two-time WNBA champion and an All-Star MVP. The 36-year-old basketball star recently signed with the Las Vegas Aces. In 2021, Parker was named one of the 25 greatest players in WNBA history.
