Here’s Everything You Need to Know About NBA All-Star Weekend 2019 in Charlotte
This weekend, NBA superstars LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook will all be taking a quick breather from the regular season to have a little fun.
Friday night marks the start of the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend from Charlotte, North Carolina, which will feature a medley of events to showcase the league’s best talents in a three-day-long extravaganza.
Starting at 7 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN, the All-Star Celebrity Game will kick off the weekend’s activities and will see former NBA players, WNBA stars and pop culture icons duking it out on the court. As PEOPLE exclusively revealed, the home team will include Luke Cage‘s Mike Colter, Chris Daughtry, Dr. Oz, Terrence J, ESPN analyst Jay Williams and comedian JB Smoove. Rapper Rapsody, comedian Famous Los and WNBA player A’ja Wilson are also on the team.
The away team consists of celebs such as reigning MVP Quavo, Bad Bunny, CSI: New York‘s AJ Buckley, Brad Williams, Hasan Minhaj and comedian Amanda Seales. Rounding out the team are Ronnie 2K, WNBA’s Stefanie Dolson and Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry.
This year, both rosters feature their first-ever “hometown hero,” meant to honor “exemplary citizens” by giving them the chance to play in the Celebrity All-Star Game. Jason Weinmann, 47, a Marine who rescued North Carolina flood victims during Hurricane Florence, will play on the home team, while 29-year-old James Shaw Jr., who disarmed a gunman in a Tennessee Waffle House, will join the away team.
The Rising Stars Challenge will start at 9 p.m. ET Friday on TNT, and will feature a matchup between 10 first-year players from the United States and 10 second-year players from around the globe. The game will showcase up-and-coming players like Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers, Kyle Kuzma of the Los Angeles Lakers and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics.
The Skills Contest is the first event of All-Star Saturday Night and will be followed by the 3-Point Contest and the Slam Dunk Contest.
The Skills Contest begins at 8 p.m. ET on TNT and will see a slew of young players compete in timed events that will test their ball-handling and shooting talents. After that will be the 3-point contest, which will see Stephen Curry face off against his brother Seth Curry of the Portland Trailblazers, Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks, Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns and six other shooters in a two-round competition.
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Each player will just have a minute to make as many baskets as they can while only being given 25 balls. Regular NBA balls will be worth a single point, while custom-colored “money” balls will be worth two points.
The main event of Saturday night will be the Slam Dunk Contest, which will feature Miles Bridges of the Charlotte Hornets, John Collins of the Atlanta Hawks, Hamidou Diallo of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dennis Smith Jr. of the New York Knicks face off to see who can come up with the most creative and difficult dunks of the night.
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The main event of the weekend will be the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on TNT, which will see a group of players drafted by LeBron James (Team LeBron) goes against a set of stars picked by Milwaukee Bucks player Giannis Antetokounmpo (Team Giannis).
Team LeBron’s starters include Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors, Kyrie Irving of the Boston Celtics, Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors, Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans and Klay Thompson of the Warriors, while Team Giannis will feature Stephen Curry of the Warriors, Joel Embiid of Philadelphia, Paul George of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kemba Walker of the Charlotte Hornets, Blake Griffin of the Detroit Pistons and Kyle Lowry of Toronto.
Last year, Team LeBron defeated Team Stephen 148-145 during the All-Star Game.
