Sixers: Fan’s Watch Guide to NBA All-Star Weekend

Friday night begins this weekend’s All-Star festivities. Personally, this is one of my favorite weekends of the year, and this year is looking even better. As a Sixers fan, here is what you should watch for or pay attention to this weekend.

Why Sixers fans should watch The Clorox Rising Stars (Friday 9 pm ET)

This year the NBA switched up the Rising Stars format, and I’m all for it. It used to be just a smaller and younger version of the All-Star Game, and now it’s most definitely its own thing. It’s a tournament of 4 teams, coached by four NBA legends, Rick Barry, Isiah Thomas, James Worthy, and Gary Payton. The teams are four teams of 7 rookies and sophomore players, and you can check out the full rosters here.

You might be saying, “Ok that sounds cool, but why should I care?” Well, that’s simple, our guy Tyrese Maxey is on Team Worthy.

We’ve all watched Maxey sprout into a bonafide stud of a point guard this season, and now we get a chance to see how that matches up with 27 other awesome young players. Watch during the games to see how Maxey competes with his classmates, how Coach Worthy plays him, and what he can learn from the games.

Another fun thing is whoever stands out at the Rising Stars game is likely to be in All-Star Game next season, like Luka Doncic and Trae Young in 2020. It’s a fantastic event and I’m excited to see how it goes this year.

Why Sixers fans should watch the 71st NBA All-Star Game (Sunday 8 pm ET)

This is the main event of the weekend and the only other event with a Sixer. Joel is the starting center for Team Durant, and he’s going to be gunning for that All-Star MVP award. The last center to win the All-Star MVP was Shaq, and this season Jojo has been trying to break all of Shaq’s records, and this is the next stop.

All season there’s been the underlying storyline about how Joel is trying to prove the value of the center in today’s NBA. He’s doing that by being the most dominant player in the NBA, and also a center.

Another reason to watch the game, besides the obvious, is to watch how Joel plays with the guards on his team. Trae Young and Ja Morant are the starters for Team Durant, and it should be fun to watch how they pair with Joel as a sign of how he’ll pair with James Harden. That might be a stretch, but it also might not be. Watching how our center pairs with some of the best guards in the NBA should be fun and educational.

Another quick point, Team Lebron is much more well put together than Team Durant, so if Joel can put his team on his back and win… well that could be a great way to win that MVP Trophy.

Non-Sixer Events

AT&T Slam Dunk Contest

MTN DEW 3-Point Contest

Taco Bell Skills Challenge

• All 3 events are a part of the main event of Saturday night
• Coverage starts at 8 pm ET