NBA All-Star Weekend 2024: Revisiting previous codecs and occasions

The 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis suggestions off on Friday with its annual superstar recreation.

Since its introduction in 2003, the sport has develop into a staple of All-Star Weekend, performed every year besides 2021 in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been two multi-time Most Beneficial Participant winners — Kevin Hart (4) and Terrell Owens (2) — with different huge names persistently taking part within the occasion.

Although the superstar recreation has discovered its place throughout All-Star Weekend, different occasions or concepts have not caught round. The NBA has examined varied codecs, guidelines and occasions in hopes of constructing the basketball-filled weekend as aggressive and entertaining as doable.

This is a glance again at varied concepts that added a distinct twist over time, however did not develop into a everlasting a part of NBA All-Star Weekend.

2014 NBA dunk contest

In 2014, the NBA had members compete on groups within the dunk contest: Jap Convention vs. Western Convention. Although there have been loads of stars within the occasion — Paul George, Damian Lillard and John Wall to call just a few — the occasion grew to become complicated.

It included a 90-second freestyle spherical the place the dunkers from every workforce dunked as many occasions as they needed. The consequence was a flurry of jams that made it robust for followers to acknowledge them correctly. Judges selected the successful workforce, who picked who dunked first or second within the battle spherical.

That closing spherical included head-to-head matchups. The primary workforce to win three rounds gained the competitors. Crew East was victorious. In contrast to earlier years, a single individual was not topped champion. As an alternative, the followers voted Wall as “Dunker of the Evening.”

The NBA returned to its previous format in 2015.

Legends recreation brings greats collectively

A staple of All-Star Weekend within the Eighties and early Nineteen Nineties, the NBA introduced a few of its greats collectively for the “Legends Sport.”

The 24-minute exhibition between the Jap and Western Convention performed out in semi-serious style the place damage prevention was a precedence. However within the 1992 recreation, David Thompson and Norm Nixon had been each carted off as a result of accidents. Thompson suffered a ruptured left patella tendon, whereas Nixon suffered a ruptured quadricep tendon.

There have been enjoyable moments, too. In that very same recreation, San Antonio Spurs legend George Gervin had 24 factors. Walt Frazier, Artis Gilmore, Bob Cousy and Pete Maravich had been amongst many to take part by the years.

The NBA referred to as it quits on the sport after 1993.

NBA gamers tackle H-O-R-S-E

The NBA carried out a playground favourite for All-Star Weekend within the late 2000s: H-O-R-S-E.

The competitors adopted conventional guidelines, however no dunking was allowed, and gamers had 24 seconds every to “create and mimic pictures.” The NBA even assigned a referee to the competitors to authenticate pictures.

Kevin Durant, O.J. Mayo and Joe Johnson competed in 2009’s inaugural version. Durant gained and confronted Rajon Rondo and Omri Casspi the subsequent yr.

With Rondo on his closing letter within the closing spherical, Durant and Rondo traded 3-point baskets atop the important thing, displaying the — at occasions comedic — consistency of NBA stars. Durant gained once more, and the NBA scrapped the occasion after 2010 as gamers opted for easy pictures, moderately than inventive ones.

2002 NBA dunk contest

The 2002 dunk appeared a bit completely different than in the present day’s model. Within the first spherical, members needed to full a freestyle dunk, adopted by a teammate-assisted dunk. Their closing dunk of the primary spherical could be decided by spinning the “dunk wheel,” which included replicating a traditional slam.

Sections on the dunk wheel included: Eighties, Nineteen Nineties, His Airness, Human Spotlight Reel, Dr. J and a thriller class. No matter class the wheel landed on, a video could be performed to point out the precise dunk a participant needed to replicate. The identical format adopted within the closing spherical with one freestyle and one wheel dunk.

The wheel led to some memorable recreations as Jason Richardson gained, but it surely did not go precisely in keeping with plan in some points. Steve Francis needed to do a dunk that required palming the ball, one thing he wasn’t able to doing.

“It is truthful. That is the foundations,” Francis mentioned after his elimination. “Similar to when referees make calls, you’ll be able to’t complain about it.”

All-Star Sport draft

Launched in 2018, the All-Star Sport draft concerned the 2 gamers that led every convention in votes serving as captains in a snake-style draft to find out the rosters. Conferences had been eradicated, too. It was arguably one of many NBA’s finest concepts. The inaugural draft wasn’t televised, however the remaining had been, creating some viral moments on stay TV.

LeBron James was a workforce captain throughout all six years of the draft, whereas Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry and Durant every had their share of alternatives. Antetokounmpo grew to become recognized for all the time deciding on teammate Khris Middleton along with his first choose of the reserves.

Although the draft added a distinct twist to the sport, it did not foster essentially the most aggressive on-court motion. The NBA scrapped the draft after 2023, returning to the traditional East vs. West format.