Best All-Star Weekend Performers In San Antonio Spurs History

This weekend, the San Antonio Spurs look to add to their historic All-Star performances.

The San Antonio Spurs have never been known as a team with a lot of flash or excitement to their game. But this hasn’t stopped them from having multiple players perform well over the All-Star Break. A few have actually been a part of some pretty memorable performances.

This weekend Kawhi Leonard and Jonathon Simmons hope to have some similarly successful showings in the hopes of possibly surpassing a couple of these guys below who have had the greatest performances in Spurs All-Star history.

Rising Stars Challenge – DeJuan Blair (2010)

DeJuan Blair had quite the night as a rookie in 2010 during this event. The Spurs’ second-round pick from that year put up 22 points and a then-record 23 rebounds on his way to the MVP award. It was also just one of the four times in the game’s 11 years as “Rookies vs Sophomores” that the rookies earned the bragging rights.

Unfortunately, another of the four times happened the following year when Blair was on the Sophomore team, although he did put up 28 and 15 in that game. Did I mention he out-shined teammate Stephen Curry in both those games? Hmm…

Skills Challenge – Tony Parker (2012)

Tony Parker won the 2012 Skills Challenge in dramatic fashion. It was the first time in event history a tie-breaker was necessary to determine the two finalists, and it was the first time three players all finished the course in less than 30 seconds in one round. Parker edged out Rajon Rondo by less than two seconds to take home the trophy.

Three Point Shootout – Marco Belinelli (2014)

What is with these Spurs and tie-breakers? Marco Belinelli was a part of one of the greatest shootouts ever against Bradley Beal in 2014.

Belinelli hit 19 threes in both rounds one and two, tying Beal in the final to force the extra round. It was then Belinelli posted one of the best scores in event history with a blistering 24 made threes.

Slam Dunk Contest – Johnny Dawkins (1987)

Unfortunately the Spurs have not yet had a Slam Dunk Contest winner. I guess it’s just not their style (although Jonathon Simmons wanted a crack at it this year). San Antonio has had three participants though, who all competed in a tough era during the 80s.

If we were to rank them by score, Edgar Jones would seemingly have the edge from back in 1984. But a closer look reveals that the other two participants, Johnny Dawkins in 1987 and Greg “Cadillac” Anderson in 1988 actually had one less dunk than Jones.

If you take the average of both Dawkins and Anderson’s dunks and add it to their scored, Dawkins actually comes out on top with a score of 121.5 (122 if we’re rounding), which is a good but not great score.

All Star Game – George Gervin (1980)

The Spurs have had many All-Stars over the years, but only one has won the game’s MVP award. George Gervin did just that in 1984 by scoring 34 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Now remember, he didn’t even have a three-point line in this game. So it wasn’t like your MVP chasers these days who just try and rack up deep ones.

He also somehow got to the free throw line nine times in an All-Star Game. Getting an honorable mention is Tim Duncan who won Co-MVP with Shaquille O’Neal in 2000. He dropped 24 on 12-of-14 shooting and pulled down 14 rebounds. But no three taken and Co-MVP?!  C’mon Tim, that’s weak.

Next: 2016-17 NBA Power Rankings: Week 17

This weekend Leonard (All-Star) will try and make it onto this list next to some of the greats.