The 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend is set to take place in the Bay Area, represented by the Golden State Warriors, from Friday, Feb. 14-Sunday, Feb. q6.
The Los Angeles Lakers will have a couple of players representing the franchise this weekend, namely LeBron James who was voted to his record 21st consecutive All-Star team. Additionally, rookie Dalton Knecht will take part in the Castrol Rising Stars, with an opportunity to take part in the All-Star Game itself on Sunday should his team emerge victorious.
But the Bay Area will be host to an entire weekend filled with huge events throughout that will be worth watching and here is a primer for all of them.
Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game
The first major event takes place Friday night with the All-Star Celebrity Game. The teams will be coached by two Bay Area superstars with MLB legend Barry Bonds being joined by rapper 2 Chainz on one siide, while NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice is joined by social media star Khaby Lame on the other.
Participants include former NBA players Baron Davis and Matt Barnes, WNBA stars Allisha Gray and Kayla Thornton, NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens, comedian Druski, popular streamer Kai Cenat and WWE superstar Bayley.
Castrol Rising Stars
The Castrol Rising Stars also takes place on Friday night to showcase the NBA’s top young talent. This year’s showcase will feature a four-team tournament style format with three teams being selected by Warriors legends Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin of the famed ‘Run TMC’ era, and a fourth team of G-League players headed by Jeremy Lin.
Knecht is part of Team Mullin with other participants including Amen and Ausar Thompson, the top two picks in this year’s NBA Draft Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr, and two-time Slam Dunk Champion Mac McClung.
The team who comes out victorious will be the fourth team to take part in the All-Star Game itself on Sunday night.
Kia Skills Challenge
Kicking off All-Star Saturday night will be the Kia Skills Challenge featuring four pairs of players looking to take home the crown.
The hometown Team Warriors will be represented by Draymond Green and Moses Moody, Team Spurs features Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama, Team Cavs features All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley and Team Rooks features top overall pick Zaccharie Risacher and second pick Alex Sarr.
Starry 3-Point Contest
Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard looks to win his third consecutive 3-point shootout, something only Larry Bird and Craig Hodges have done in the history of the contest. Eight players will participate with the top three scores advancing to the Finals.
Looking to take Lillard’s crown this year will be Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham, Darius Garland, Tyler Herro, Buddy Hield, Cam Johnson and Norman Powell. Stephen Curry will surprisingly not be participated in his home arena.
AT&T Slam Dunk
The Slam Dunk contest also has the chance to make history with Mac McClung looking to become the first player to ever win three straight contests. He would join Nate Robinson as the only other three-time champion, but first to do so consecutively.
Trying to stop that from happening will be a pair of rookies in Stephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs and Matas Buzelis of the Chicago Bulls along with second-year guard Andre Jackson Jr. of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Each player will get two dunk chances in the first round with five judges scoring appropriately. The two top combined scorers will move on to the finals where they will have two more dunk chances and the highest scorer will be crowned champion.
74th NBA All-Star Game
The format for the NBA All-Star Game has been overhauled with a four-team tournament format taking place. The 24 All-Stars were separated into three teams of eight, selected by basketball legends and Turner Sports commentators Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith. They will be joined by the winning team from Friday night’s Rising Stars which will be headed by Candace Parker.
Lakers star LeBron James was chosen to be a member of ‘Shaq’s OGs’ and will be joined by the likes of Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. Originally LeBron’s former Lakers teammate Anthony Davis was also on this team as well, but will miss the game due to injury.
‘Kenny’s Young Stars’ features the likes of Anthony Edwards, Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley, meanwhile ‘Chuck’s Global Stars’ features Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgious-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Wembanyama.
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