Ranking the 5 events of 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend

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(Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images) /

5. Taco Bell Skills Challenge

The field:

This has nothing to do with the field. It’s a much better lineup than the bookend of Saturday night’s events, but it kickstarts the evening for a reason. The fundamentals of passing, dribbling and layups are vital to basketball, but this is not the most entertaining aspect of the All-Star weekend by any means.

The NBA abandoned the bigs vs. guards format that has been in place the past couple of years, but the pair of Nikolas are still holding it down for the big men. Jokic is far from the quickest, but his passing prowess gives him a chance in this contest.

The rest of the field has three rising guards, two dynamic wings in their second season and the old head at the table in Mike Conley. The main storyline around this event is the Luka Doncic-Trae Young trade potentially facing off. These two will be connected forever after their 2018 NBA Draft day trade, so it will be interesting to see if they amp up the intensity if they match up.

There’s just not a lot of excitement around this event. The crowd is usually half-empty at this time and the event itself doesn’t wow anybody. A perfect chest-pass is useful, but lacking in terms of getting fans to their feet.

Winner: De’Aaron Fox