Reviewing NBA All-Star Weekend award winners
Damian Lillard became the first player in NBA All-Star Weekend history to win both the three-point contest and All-Star game MVP (Courtesy of Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images).
The National Basketball Association’s (NBA) annual All-Star Weekend came to an end on Sunday, Feb. 18. NBA All-Star Weekend is an exciting multi-day event that consists of multiple challenges and contests, along with the highly anticipated All-Star game. All of these competitions end in the player with the best performance winning an award that can be looked back at fondly for years to come.
The weekend’s festivities got started with the annual Celebrity Game on Friday, Feb. 16. The first team, coached by former National Football League (NFL) tight end Shannon Sharpe, took down media personality Stephen A. Smith’s squad 100-91 with NFL linebacker Micah Parsons winning MVP. Micah Parsons exploded for 37 points and 16 rebounds to help lead his team to victory.
The Friday night portion of the weekend ended with the Rising Stars Tournament. Former NBA star Jalen Rose’s team outlasted that of fellow ex-NBA player Detlef Schrempf in the finals of the tournament with hometown hero and Indiana Pacers’ shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin winning MVP. Mathurin scored 13 of his team's 26 points in the final game to win it all. This, though, wouldn’t be the last award that Mathurin would win during the weekend.
It is also worth noting that Team Detlef got to the finals by beating a team led by Hall of Famer Pau Gasol in the semifinals. Team Detlef was comprised of G-League players, essentially those in the NBA’s minor leagues.
The annual Skills Challenge, which was hosted on Saturday, Feb. 17, is different from the rest of the competitions, as it consists of three teams of three players each attempting to get the victory. The hometown team Indiana Pacers was composed of Mathurin, point guard Tyrese Haliburton, and center Myles Turner. They managed to edge out Team No. 1 Picks (San Antonio Spurs’ center Victor Wembanyama, Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards, and Orlando Magic power forward Paolo Banchero) and Team All-Stars (Toronto Raptors’ small forward Scottie Barnes, Philadelphia 76ers’ point guard Tyrese Maxey, and Atlanta Hawks’ point guard Trae Young). The Skills Challenge ended excitingly as Haliburton hit a half-court shot to seal the victory.
The Three-Point Contest is one of the more exciting parts of the weekend, also taking place on Saturday. The participants for the contest consisted of Haliburton, Young, Milwaukee Bucks’ shooting guard Malik Beasley, New York Knicks’ point guard Jalen Brunson, Bucks’ point guard Damian Lillard, Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, Cavaliers’ guard Donovan Mitchell, and Timberwolves’ center Karl-Anthony Towns. The final three came down to Lillard, Young, and Towns with Lillard scoring 26 points in the final round to take home the title for the second time in his career.
For the first time in All-Star Weekend history, an NBA player and WNBA player went one-on-one in a three-point contest. Golden State Warriors’ point guard Steph Curry took on New York Liberty point guard Sabrina Ionescu in a fresh-feeling debut event. Ionescu put on a performance scoring 26 points, however, Curry just edged her out with a 29-point winning performance. The NBA has been trying to incorporate new ideas into the event, and this one was very well received by fans and media alike.
Although recent years may not suggest it, the Slam Dunk Contest is still the most anticipated competition of the weekend. Participants included Boston Celtics’ guard Jaylen Brown, Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., Osceola Magic guard Mac McClung, and Knicks’ forward Jacob Toppin. Similar to Lillard, McClung won his contest for the second year in a row. McClung took down Brown in the final round with a sensational dunk over 7’1” Shaquille O’Neal to claim a perfect score. NBA fans are clamoring to see a little more creativity and excitement from the dunk contest, however, McClung may look to three-peat at next year's event.
NBA All-Star Weekend wrapped up with the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 20. The game went back to the original East vs. West style, which received praise from fans. The Eastern All-Stars ended up winning the game 211-186, breaking the All-Star Game’s record for most points by a single team. The Kobe Bryant All-Star Game MVP honors went to three-point contest champion Damian Lillard who recorded 39 points, three rebounds, and six assists on the night. Lillard was the obvious frontrunner for the award, as he led his squad in points.
The 2024 NBA All-Star weekend was plenty of fun and brought about many talking points for the second half of the NBA regular season. The man of the weekend, Damian Lillard, hopes to ride this momentum into the second half of the season with the rest of the Milwaukee Bucks roster.