Around the NBA: All-Star Weekend 2019 schedule

Friday kickstarts NBA All-Star Weekend - We let you know when the action takes place to make sure you don’t miss a thing.

For NBA fans (or basketball fans in general), NBA All-Star Weekend is one of the most interesting stretches that the sport has to offer. No-matter the participants, the dunk contest is always a good time, even if it isn’t what it once was. The skills challenge and three point contest are consistently fun while the Rising Stars game is a great time as well. The All-Star game itself is perhaps the greatest exhibition game we get all year. The whole thing is certainly worth your time.

If you are lucky enough to have a completely free weekend, you can tune in to NBA TV almost any time to catch All-Star media appearances, practices, or even an NBA legends brunch. Most of us have important things going on, such as the second installment of The League at The Basketball Movement all day Saturday. For such reasons, let’s just hit on the most important events of NBA All-Star Weekend 2019, starting with Friday (all times shown in CST).

Friday, Feb. 15th

4:00pm will have the Hall of Fame announcement on TNT. This is one that may be just as good to catch afterwards on Twitter, but is still an interesting wrinkle in the weekend. At 6:00pm on ESPN, the Celebrity All-Star Game will be shown. If watching Ray Allen and Quavo take on A’ja Wilson and Dr. Oz sounds interesting to you, then this is the place to be.

The meat and potatoes of Friday is certainly the Rising Stars game that starts at 8:00pm on TNT. Made up of first and second year players, there will be a USA vs. The World format again. Always underrated, the game offers a fun look into the future of the league. Team USA is still looking for its first win since this format was established.

Saturday, Feb 16th

Media availability by the All-Stars and Commisioner Adam Silver will be running much of the day as well as practices. All-Star Saturday Night though is where the most memorable moments will truly begin, starting at 7:00pm on TNT.

The Taco Bell Skills Challenge kicks things off with players of every position competing to see who can combine speed, ball-handling, passing, and shooting accuracy to the fullest effect. Big men have had a surprising hold on this event over the years.

Contestants this year are: Mike Conley, Luka Doncic, De'Aaron Fox, Nikola Jokic, Kyle Kuzma, Jayson Tatum, Nikola Vucevic, and Trae Young.

Following the skills competition is the Three Point Contest, which is one of the most pure contests in basketball year after year. Whether Seth should be in or not, it is still interesting that the contest will feature brothers - Steph and Seth Curry. The rest of the field is a pretty solid representation of many of the season’s top snipers:

The final event of All-Star Saturday Night is the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest. Despite a resurgence in 2016 that saw an epic showdown between Aaron Gordon and Zach Lavine, this contest has been largely on a downhill slide over the years.

The game’s big stars are mysteriously reluctant to participate, so we get athletic up-and-comers that may have some decent dunks, but no star power. Maybe this year will yield some surprises.

Sunday, Feb 17th

The main event! Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis marks the 68th annual NBA All-Star game. The game tips of at 7:00pm with coverage starting at 6:00pm on TNT (also available on TBS).

NBA haters love to harp on the lack of defense in this one, but perhaps they don’t understand the purpose of an exhibition game. Also, Joel Embiid went you-know-what to the walls last year, forcing everyone else to step it up. He is on team Giannis and we have seen Antetokounmpo take the game very seriously before too. Anticipate plenty of effort and competitiveness sprinkled in between alley oops.

That does it for the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend schedule! We will be dropping some opinions and analysis over the weekend in addition to our coverage of The League. Be sure you are following us across all platforms so you don’t miss a thing.

Around the NBA: Anthony Davis, James Harden, and All-Star Weekend

Anthony Davis is the big news this week, but there is plenty going on around the National Basketball Association.

The New Orleans Pelicans star, Anthony Davis has been fined $50,000 this week by the NBA. His agent, Rich Paul let it be known that Davis wishes to be traded, which is a no-no. The agent said that Davis wishes to play for a team that allows him to “win consistently and compete for a championship.” This means that Davis does not believe he is capable of leading the Pelicans to be a team that can win consistently - a disappointing admission from the superstar power forward.

The fine is a drop in the bucket for Anthony “The Brow” Davis, who makes over $25 million per season. He and his agent likely decided being open and honest was worth the trouble. Davis must have his sights set somewhere big, as he leaves behind up-and-comers Julius Randle, Nikola Mirotic, and Elfrid Payton as well as All-Star-caliber talent, Jrue Holiday. The Lakers are the most buzzed about team as well as the Celtics, though Boston is incapable of making a deal this season.

You do not have to be fantasy basketball savvy to know that Davis is a machine on the basketball court. He is elite on both ends, meaning his eventual departure from NOLA will be a seismic shift in the NBA landscape. Currently injured, it seems likely The Brow has played his last game in a Pelicans uniform. The trade deadline is February 7th.

James Harden’s historic heater

Through the end of 2018, the NBA MVP race was a close one. Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, and Kawhi Leonard were all looking like fine choices with the Rockets off to a disappointing start. About halfway through December however, the Rockets turned it on. With Chris Paul sidelined with injury, it has been the James Harden show - and what a show it has been.

In January, Harden has averaged 43.6 points to go along with 8.7 boards, 7.6 assists, 2.1 steals, and 1.2 blocks.

That scoring total is the highest single-month average since Wilt Chamberlain’s 45.8 in March of 1963 via the Elias Sports Bureau. Any time you see a modern day player’s stats compared to Wilt Chamberlain, you know they are doing something crazy.

The Rockets are currently up to third in the West and Harden would be a lock for his second MVP award if the season ended today. However, there is still a lot of basketball to be played!

2019 All-Star starters and Rising Stars announced

Fan-voting for the NBA All-Star games has concluded. Those votes are weighed in alongside player and media voting, resulting in the five starters for each conference. Below are the results:

Western conference: LeBron James, Steph Curry, James Harden, Paul George, and Kevin Durant.

Eastern Conference: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, and Kemba Walker

Once again, the conferences will be jumbled together, with a captain from each conference drafting their players. The top vote-getters, Antetokounmpo and James will be selecting the squads. The fun part is that the draft will be televised this year on Feb. 7th at 6:00pm Central on TNT.

The Rising Stars challenge will feature first and second year players and will be in Team USA vs The World format again this year. The World team has won each year since this format has started, but the rosters this year may lend confidence to team USA.

NBA All-Star weekend is February 15-17th. We will do our best to cover the festivities in addition to our coverage of The League by The Basketball Movement, which has its second installment Saturday, Feb. 16th. Keep your eye out for more NBA coverage and follow us on Twitter to stay on top of everything.

NBA All-Star voting is underway

The first wave of results are back from fan-voting for NBA All-Star starters. Some of the results have been raising questions.

Should fans be the ones that vote for starters in the NBA All-Star game? An argument can certainly be made on both sides. Players get plenty of official accolades for their strong play, such as making All-NBA Teams, All-Defense, MVP, etc.

Do they really need one more official pat on the back, or can fans just select whoever the heck they want? It is just an exhibition game after all. Player pride may be on the line, but fans are the main reason the players have such a lofty platform. As I said, either side can be argued.

The reason it is being argued is below, in the first voting return:

There are many names that everyone expects to see. LeBron and half of the Warriors show up out West, while new kings of the East, Giannis, Embiid, and Kawhi take deserved spots on the other side. Three frontcourt players and two backcourt players start per conference. The issue lies in a few of the would-be starters as of now.

Luka Doncic is the likely rookie of the year, but All-Star starter over Durant, PG-13, or the Brow? The fans are making a questionable pick here.

Nostalgia is one of the true leading vote-getters this year. Derrick Rose, though he is having a nice bounce-back season, would currently be a starter over Harden and Westbrook. C’mon now. Out East, Dwyane Wade is in his final season. That makes this pick a bit more understandable, but it would still be a bit of a shame if the deserving Kemba Walker didn’t get that spot. Even Vince Carter makes an appearance in the top 10.

Again, this is an exhibition game that is clearly meant for fan service. To the players and top-talent purists, there may be a few too many old guys (and Lakers/Warriors) on this list. Either way, it will be a blast as it always is. If you don’t like the current standings go vote for your guys!

Follow us on Twitter @BBall_Movement and let us know who you would like to see on All-Star Weekend this February!