Live Thread: All Star Saturday (#TheBuzz)

It’s that time of year again… the unofficial halfway (but really almost two-thirds way) point of the NBA season, where the League has a week off to celebrate itself and fuel storylines and buzzy rumors for the remaining stretch run, playoffs and summer.

This time around, we find ourselves in Charlotte, North Carolina, (home of the Hornets) to watch the stars come out to compete in feats of skill, shooting and throwing it down before the real pickup game begins tomorrow afternoon. We’ve already seen Ray Allen light up the Celebrity Game and Kyle Kuzma lead Team USA to victory over Team World in the Rising Stars Game last night. Tonight is all about spectacle, sizzle and slams.

Here’s the lineup of events, participants and odds for each to win, courtesy of ESPN and the Westgate Las Vegas SportsBook…

Skills contest: A field of eight (four frontcourt, four backcourt players) competes head-to-head in a three-round timed tournament, with the brackets’ two winners battling for the title in the final round. Players must complete the following obstacle-course drills in order: ballhandling, passing, layup/dunk, 3-pointer.

Odds (via Westgate Las Vegas SportsBook): 
Mike Conley: 6-1
Luka Doncic: 4-1
De’Aaron Fox: 7-2
Nikola Jokic: 6-1
Kyle Kuzma: 8-1
Jayson Tatum: 6-1
Nikola Vucevic: 10-1
Trae Young: 4-1

3-point contest: Ten of the game’s best shooters — including Stephen Curry, Seth Curry, Dirk Nowitzki and defending champ Devin Booker — take the court for the two-round competition, with each player having 60 seconds to shoot and make as many of the 25 balls as he can. Four of the five racks include four regulation NBA balls (one point) and one “money” ball (two points). The fifth rack consists only of money balls and can be placed at any of the five shooting locations.

• Round 1: Nine shooters take the court in random order, while the defending champion — Booker — will shoot last.
• Championship: The top three from Round 1 will compete in the championship round, with the lowest Round 1 score competing first and highest Round 1 score competing last.
• Tiebreakers: If necessary, a 30-second tiebreaker would decide the final spot in the championship round; a 60-second tiebreaker would decide the 2019 champion.
• Odds (via Westgate Las Vegas SportsBook): 
  Devin Booker: 4-1
  Seth Curry: 12-1
  Stephen Curry: 7-5
  Danny Green: 16-1
  Joe Harris: 8-1
  Buddy Hield: 6-1
  Damian Lillard: 10-1
  Khris Middleton: 14-1
  Dirk Nowitzki: 40-1
  Kemba Walker: 14-1

Dunk contest: Four of the game’s high-flyers — Charlotte’s Miles Bridges, Atlanta’s John Collins, OKC’s Hamidou Diallo and New York’s Dennis Smith Jr. — take center stage in All-Star Saturday Night’s premier event.

• Round 1: Each competitor will complete two dunks, and the two players with the highest composite scores will move on to the championship round.
• Championship: The remaining two competitors will each complete two dunks; the player with the highest composite score is crowned champion. As is the case for Round 1, the maximum score per round is 100, while the lowest score is 60.
• Tiebreakers: If necessary, a one-dunk “dunk-off” will determine who advances to the championship round or who is crowned champion. If, after a championship-round dunk-off two players are still tied, a “judges’ choice” will determine a 2019 winner.

Catch all the action starting at 8pm EST on TNT… and chime in below to follow along.