Slams, Skills and All-Stars

The NBA season has flown by and after Thursday night, the first half of the 2017 season will be in the books. So far, everything has gone as planned. The expected contenders have held their spots at the top of their respective conferences, the Golden State Warriors in the West and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East, Russell Westbrook is averaging a triple double and DeMarcus Cousins gets called for a technical foul once every three games.

Those first half narratives will likely continue come next week but until then, the NBA All-Star Game will dominate the headlines. The weekend festival in New Orleans is just that, with three days of jam packed action. From celebrities, to skills challenges and everything in between, NBA All-Star Weekend has it all.

Bout to be a fun weekend! Aye coach @michaelsmith you ready?! #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/NHWmz8IELX

— Romeo Miller (@RomeoMiller) February 14, 2017

Romeo Miller will forever be Lil’ Romeo in my eyes and the New Orleans native will be playing in front of his home crowd during Friday’s NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. Romeo will be playing with rapping father Master P, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, former NBA players Baron Davis and Jason Williams, as well as Nick Cannon and many more.

Derrick Jones Jr. is READY for Saturday night ?? (via @Suns) pic.twitter.com/mbmm91i7c8

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 14, 2017

Humans are not supposed to be able to do this. This Derrick Jones Jr. dunk defies logic, defies physics and makes me realize why I was smart to stop playing basketball after the 8^th grade. If it were up to me, we’d call the Verizon Slam Dunk Contest right now but the Sun’s high flier will still have to throw down on Saturday night. He’ll be up against last year’s runner-up Aaron Gordon, big man DeAndre Jordan and Glenn Robinson III.

Can’t wait to head to the Big Easy for #StateFarmSaturday… be sure to check out my skills!

— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) February 13, 2017

While the Verizon Slam Dunk Contest will close out Saturday night, it opens with the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. Similar to last year, the eight participating players will compete in a knockout bracket format, with bigs being matched up against guards in the opening rounds. Last year, Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns took down the Skills Challenge and Boogie will hope to keep the trophy in the big man camp this weekend.

No big deal or anything but Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have to play on the same team in exactly 8 days WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG

— Darth Silverous™ (@World_Wide_Wob) February 12, 2017

Russell Westbrook will enter the All-Star Game trying to win his third straight MVP award, after taking that honor in both 2015 and 2016. No one is talking about the potential three-peat though, instead focusing on how Westbrook and former teammate Kevin Durant will get along when they are forced to share the court on Sunday. It’s gone great so far and we definitely don’t expect there to be drama this week!

The BEST PLAY… from each of @KobeBryant‘s #NBAAllStar appearances! pic.twitter.com/LNhrVwRSxz

— 2017 NBA All-Star (@NBAAllStar) February 13, 2017

For the first time since 1999, the NBA All-Star Game will not include Kobe Bryant. The Los Angeles Laker legend was a 14-time NBA All-Star and won All-Star Game Most Valuable Player honors four times throughout his career. Bryant also won the Slam Dunk Contest in 1997. Whether you like the “Black Mamba” or not, one of the NBA’s greatest players will be missed this weekend.