The festivities for NBA All-Star 2019 kick off Friday night with the Rising Stars Game as players from the U.S. Team take on the World Team in Charlotte, N.C.
The events of All-Star Saturday Night are arguably the most entertaining of the weekend with the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest taking place.
With the Thunder represented in the All-Star Game by Russell Westbrook and Paul George, rookie Hamidou Diallo will be the first Thunder player to participate in the Dunk Contest since Serge Ibaka in 2011.
Diallo will compete against Miles Bridge, John Collins and Dennis Smith Jr. in the contest and doesn’t appear to be the favorite as he was recently listed with the worst odds of winning the event by Bovada.
Those odds aside, Los Angeles Clippers rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander likes Diallo in the event and picked his former Kentucky Wildcats teammate to win as he gave his picks for Saturday night during media availability on Friday for the Rising Stars Game.
I’m going to go with the bigger brother [Steph] Curry [in the 3-point Contest]. And Slam Dunk, I got Hami Diallo.
Despite the lowest odds of winning, Diallo has some impressive credentials for the event. The 6-foot-5 guard recorded a 44.5-inch maximum vertical leap at the 2017 NBA Draft Combine, the second-highest mark in event history. In addition, he has also thrown some highlight-reel dunks in his first year with Oklahoma City.
Diallo does face some tough competition, though. Bridges, Collins and Smith have all established themselves as the young, high-fliers of the league and have considerable more hype coming into the event than Diallo does.
In any case, the weekend should be fun for Thunder fans to watch with three players competing in the various events.
Quote courtesy of NBA PR
