NBA All-Star 2021: A Single Starry Night

By PierreL | Pierre's Miscellaneous Corner | 7 Mar 2021

Yup, All-Star Weekend is upon us, and it's all happening tonight! The covid-19 pandemic forced the NBA to rearrange the famous and long awaited All-Star Weekend in order to make is as entertaining as possible while being safer than ever. For this reason, it will all happen in a bubble, last summer style, with no fans in the stands, and everything will unfold in one evening, tonight, March 7. Since the format keeps changing, I figured it might be useful to remind you all of what will actually happen during the evening.

The first thing to note is that there will be no Rising Stars or Celebrity games. At 6.30pm EST, the first event to kick things off will be the classic Taco Bell Skills Challenge, featuring Chris Paul (PHX), Luka Dončić (DAL), Robert Covington (POR), Julius Randle (NY), Domantas Sabonis (IND) and Nikola Vučević (ORL).

This will be immediately followed by the Mountain Dew 3-Point Contest, with Stephen Curry (GSW), Jaylen Brown (BOS), Jayson Tatum (BOS), Zach LaVine (CHI), Donovan Mitchell (UTA), Mike Conley (UTA) replacing Devin Booker who's injured. This will be, in my opinion, the most interesting event of the evening.

After these are done, the actual All-Star Game will start at 8pm EST. The team captains this year are Lebron James (LAL) for the West and Kevin Durant (BKN) for the East. Even after Durant got injured after his selection, he remained captain of his team and got to pick his "teammates", even though he won't play with them. The teams go as follows:

Team Lebron:

Starters: Lebron James (LAL), Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL), Stephen Curry (GSW), Luka Dončić (DAL) and Nikola Jokic (DEN).
Reserves: Jaylen Brown (BOS), Paul George (LAC), Rudy Gobert (UTA), Damian Lillard (POR), Domantas Sabonis (IND), Ben Simmons (PHI) and Chris Paul (PHX).
Coach: Quin Snyder (UTA).

Team Durant:

Starters: Bradley Beal (WAS), Joel Embiid (PHI), Kyrie Irving (BKN), Kawhi Leonard (LAC) and Jayson Tatum (BOS).
Reserves: Mike Conley (UTA), James Harden (BKN), Zach LaVine (CHI), Donovan Mitchell (UTA), Julius Randle (NYK), Nikola Vučević (ORL) and Zion Williamson (NOP).
Coach: Doc Rivers (PHI).

At half time, we'll get to see the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest, with Cassius Stanley (IND), Obi Toppin (NYK) and Anfernee Simons (POR). Hopefully, these new faces will bring a new vibe to this contest, that seemed to become less and less spectacular in the very recent years.

The format of the All-Star Game will be essentially the same as it was last year. Each team will compete to represent and earn money to help African-American communities, as this year's AS is putting the HCBU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in the spotlight. Team LeBron will play for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Team Durant for the United Negro College Fund. Both teams will start the game with $500,000 to donate, and will try to add more cash by winning quarters.

Like last year, the first three quarters will be played independently, with the scoreboard resetting between each. Winning a quarter means a $150,000 donation for the winning team's beneficiary.

For the last quarter, there will be no time limit but a Target Score to reach. This score will be calculated by taking the leading team’s total cumulative score through the first 3 quarters and adding 24 points, as a tribute to the late Kobe Bryant. So both teams will start the fourth quarter with their total score of the first three, and the first team to reach the Target Score wins an additional $300,000.

With this format, the beneficiaries are assured to receive at least $500,000 dollars, and up to $1.25M!

So what do you think of this sped-up format over one night? Are you excited to see Lebron's 18th consecutive All-Star game? Or do you think it's a mistake to carry on with the even amidst a global pandemic?

---

If you enjoy this content, please consider following me here and on my different social media, to show your support. It is really appreciated and helps me grow and create more enjoyable and good quality content:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8bBNDVVmXBRHb6qJP9ZMWA
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PierreLizet
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plizet.video

And if you are new to Publish0x, it is a blogging platform where you get paid for reading articles! You can join using this link to support me: https://www.publish0x.com?a=Vyb8NjLevA

Life Sports Sport Nba all-star

How do you rate this article?

PierreL

French video editor, wildlife photographer, amateur space junkie, sports and history buff and crypto enthusiast.

Pierre's Miscellaneous Corner

I write about things I like unrelated to photography or videography, such as crypto, personal finance, traveling, sports, space, my fight against pollution, consumerism and waste, and online privacy and accessibility.