The NBA All-Star Weekend is when all of the stars come out to put on a show for the fans.  It is a weekend filled with scoring, not a lot of defense and plenty of rumors.  The weekend kicked off on Friday with the Rising Stars Challenge, which brings the rookies and sophmores of the league together and pits them in a Team USA vs Team World showdown.  Many people figured it would be a blowout due to the injuries that would keep Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons out of the Team World lineup, but they came out scoring and showed just how badly they wanted to win this game.

Team World started off strong by feeding sharpshooter Buddy Hield and the “Unicorn” Kristaps Porzingis, but a handful of threes from Frank Kaminsky brought Team USA back in the game.  From here, Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray took over with a game high 36 points and Team World would go on to take the victory.

All-Star Saturday featured a trio of events: the Skills Challenge, the Three-Point Contest and the Slam Dunk Contest.  The Skills Challenge included four guards and four 7-footers as we looked to see who the more skilled breed was.  In a bit of a surprise to some, the final round featured Gordon Hayward of the Jazz and Kristaps Porzingis of the Knicks.  Porzingis glided his 7-foot-3 figure through the course and would go on to beat Heyward, securing a trophy to proudly bring how to Madison Square Garden.

In the 3-point shootout, there was a lot of star power, including Kemba Walker, Eric Gordon and Kyrie Irivng.  Irving, who earlier that weekend claimed to the media that the earth is flat, did not let the distractions phase him as he went shot for shot against Eric Gordon in the finals.  In the end, Gordon was just too much for Irving and he went on to win the contest.

The night was capped of with everyone’s favorite/least favorite event: The Slam Dunk Contest.  Many were hoping to see a repeat performance this year from Aaron Gordon, but his performance featured a lot of fancy moves with missed dunk attempts. He has been dealing with a lingering foot injury which may have limited his performance in the event.  Glenn Robinson III of the Pacers would go on to win a once again underwhelming contest.

Perhaps the biggest news of the weekend was saved for last as fellow All-Star Demarcus Cousins was traded to the Pelicans, where he will team up with Davis.  The new duo will try to climb their way back into the playoff race and perhaps go on a run.

Our Mac Ireland covers the All-Star Game here.