Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Phoenix’s Devin Booker have been champions of the 3-point contest traditionally held on All-Star weekend. This Sunday they will try to win the trophy again.
The NBA revealed on Tuesday the 15 players who will be part of the events that will accompany the All-Star Game in Atlanta. The majority will have a double participation in the competitions and the party.
The six competitors in the 3-point contest will be Curry, Booker, the Boston duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, as well as Chicago’s Zach LaVine and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell – all in the Game.
Others chosen to the All-Star Game: Luka Doncic of Dallas, Domantas Sabonis of Indiana, Julius Randle of New York, Nikola Vucevic of Orlando and Chris Paul of Phoenix, are the six participants in the skills contest. In addition there will be Robert Covington of Portland, the only current NBA player to come out of a historic African-American college.
Covington studied at Tennessee State. The HBCU organization will be a part of All-Star night and the league had previously announced a scholarship fund for black students who will receive at least $ 2.5 million as part of all events in Atlanta.
The only contest that will not have participants from the All-Star Game will be the dunk. It will include Anfernee Simons from Portland, Cassius Stanley from Indiana and Obi Toppin from New York, who are participating for the first time.
It will be played in two rounds and the judges will be five former champions: Dominique Wilkins, Dee Brown, Jason Richardson, Josh Smith and Spud Webb. The event will take place at halftime of the All-Star Game. The 3s and skills contest will be held prior to the match.
Only 18 teams will be represented on the court during the All-Star Game, a smaller number than usual due to the pandemic. This is because the event will be in one night and there will be no rookie game against second year players.
None of last season’s individual champions – dunk champion Derrick Jones Jr., who at the time played for Miami and now Portland; skills champion Bam Adebayo of Miami, and triples Buddy Hield of Sacramento — will return to defend their title.
Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Memphis, Miami, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, San Antonio and Toronto will not be represented.
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