NBA All-Star Saturday Night Guide

The bright lights of All-Star Saturday Night will be shining down north of the border on Feb. 13 with the city of Toronto set to host the annual festivities at the Air Canada Centre.

The Shooting Stars Competition has been axed from the lineup, but fan favorites like the Slam Dunk contest, Three-Point Contest, and Skills Challenge remain, complete with a solid mix of up-and-coming names and established prime-time stars.

Skills Challenge

Participants

*Emmanuel Mudiay has replaced Houston Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley, who will skip the event to nurse a left ankle injury.

How does it work?

• The eight competitors have been separated into four head-to-head matchups in a tournament-style bracket.
• Each pair will run through an intricate obstacle course which will test agility, passing, shooting, and dribbling.

1. Start
2. Dribble between four obstacles
3. Perform a chest pass through target
4. Grab ball
5. Hit layup
6. Hit 3-pointer

• The field will eventually be cut down from eight to two, with the two finalists from each side of the bracket facing off to crown a winner.

Memorable moments

Stephen Curry laughs at Jeff Teague's blunder (2013)

The layup is undeniably the most straightforward facet of the Skills Challenge, yet Jeff Teague somehow managed to screw it up as he lackadaisically finished his trial.

Deron Williams sets course record (2008)

A healthy Deron Williams with two working ankles brought his A-game while representing the Utah Jazz, blazing through the course with a time that no one will ever have a chance to topple - mainly because times are no longer recorded.

Prediction

A competition of this nature certainly favors the smaller, quicker guards, and while it's cool to see some of the league's top bigs invited to participate, it's difficult to imagine one of the four walking away with the trophy when it's all said and done.

We're guaranteed to see one frontcourt player make his way to the finals, so it's not out of the realm of possibility for an upset to occur. Draymond Green is only a few inches taller than the band of guards, and perhaps the most mobile of his group, so feel free to pencil him in the finals with confidence. Too bad he'll ultimately lose to fellow All-Star Isaiah Thomas, who's game and tiny stature feel tailor-made for this event.

In fairness, he didn't get out of the first round last year (losing to eventual winner Patrick Beverley), but the second time's the charm, right?

Three-Point Contest

Participants

How does it work?

• Five shooting stations consisting of five balls are spread out around the 3-point line.
• Four of the balls (standard orange) are worth one point, while the "money ball" (red, white, and blue) is worth two. Instituted in 2014, one rack will consist entirely of "money balls," raising the maximum score to 34.
• Participants take turns trying to score as many points as possible in the qualifying round, with the three best scores advancing to the finals.
• The winner receives $35,000, the runner-up receives $22,500, and third place snags $15,000.

Memorable moments

Craig Hodges drills 19 shots in a row (1991)

There's hot, and then there's Craig Hodges hot. Making 19 consecutive 3-pointers over 25 years ago is a record that still stands to this day, and is six more than anyone else has made in a row. This was also the second of three-straight shootout wins for Hodges, which is tied with Larry Bird for the most ever.

The Splash Brothers battle it out (2015)

Bragging rights were on the line as Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, along with Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, squared off in the finals of last year's event. There was no touching "The Chef" on this occasion, though, as Curry finished with a record 27 points - nearly double that of Thompson.

Prediction?

Curry has somewhat of a leg up on the competition, having grown up shooting on the rims at the ACC while father Dell played for the Toronto Raptors. Then again, Kyle Lowry practices with those rims all the time, so maybe it's not much of an advantage at all.

Frankly, there aren't many reasons to not roll with "The Chef," who finished as the top dog in last year's event by a wide margin. Sure, Lowry has the homecourt advantage, and Curry's "Splash Brother" partner is also in the mix, but would you honestly feel comfortable betting against Curry considering the tear he's been on?

Exactly.

Slam Dunk contest

Participants

How does it work?

• Each competitor is given two dunks in the opening round, with three attempts for each and no time limit.
• Their dunks will be scored on a scale of 6-10 by five guest judges.
• The two dunkers with the highest combined scores will move on to the finals.
• There, each participant will get two more dunks.
• The finalist with the highest combined score will be crowned the Slam Dunk champion.

Memorable moments

Vince Carter puts on a performance for the ages (2000)

Vince Carter is the standard by which all dunkers measure themselves. His reverse 360 windmill is still widely viewed as one of the most beautiful aerial displays ever - and that was just his first of the competition. "Vin-sane," indeed.

Jason Richardson goes off the glass with authority (2004)

The between-the-legs dunk has been done to death over the years. It was a big deal when the likes of Isaiah Rider and a young Kobe Bryant pulled it off, but in recent editions, they don't seem to elicit the same emotion from judges and fans. Jason Richardson was one of the first to take that formula and move it to the next level, lobbing the ball off the backboard before throwing it down.

Highlights

The best of Andre Drummond

The best of Zach LaVine

The best of Aaron Gordon

The best of Will Barton

Prediction

TNT's Kenny "The Jet" Smith said it best in 2005: "You don't need the names, you need the game." Andre Drummond is the only player with All-Star credentials, but that won't save him against three high-flyers who will, in all likelihood, have more to offer creatively since they're not closing in on 280 pounds.

Zach LaVine was in a class of his own at the Barclays Center last year, and the odds-on favorite to repeat. Very few players can get off the ground like he can, and with a few more tricks up his sleeve, the best may be yet to come.

We're all winners if that's the case.