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2024 NBA All-Star Knicks Preview: Root for Jalen Brunson and Jacob Toppin!

Two Knicks perform on Saturday with Jalen Brunson also scheduled to make an All-Star Game cameo!

By Antonio Losada
/ new

The 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend got going on Friday with the Celebrity Game and the Rising Stars Challenge taking place inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

After Quentin Grimes made it to the latter of those two events last season, this year marked a new chapter in New York Knicks ASW history as no rookie nor sophomore belonging to the Manhattanite franchise appeared on Friday’s games. (That said, former Knickerbocker Metta Sandiford-Artest was part of the Celebrity Game!)

Today is the day you should have marked in your blue and orange calendar as not one, but two members of the New York Knicks will put on their uniform to perform in the biggest two events of All-Star Saturday Night. No need to mention, of course, what will come on Sunday as the ASW reaches its climax with the All-Star Game in which we’ll get to watch one of our own making his debut in the largest mid-season event staged by the NBA.

Here is what to watch for on Saturday and Sunday!

All-Star Saturday Night

When and where: Saturday, Feb. 17 starting at 8 p.m. in Lucas Oil Stadium

Events with Knicks: 3-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest

How to watch on TV: TNT

For the fourth time in as many years, there will be at least one player representing the New York Knicks on a Saturday through the All-Star Weekend.

3-Point Contest: Jalen Brunson

This year, the 3-Point Contest crown will be defended by new Milwaukee Bucks point guard Damian Lillard, who will look to defend his title against a stacked field that will miss, however, the greatest shooter of all time in Steph Curry.

Eight players will compete with the top-three scores from the first round advancing to the Finals and the highest score there winning the ultimate trophy.

There will be 27 balls available for all players in the main contest, with multiple racks spread along the arc at NBA range with a running clock of 70 seconds in which players will try to bag as many threes as humanly possible.

Four racks will contain four normal basketballs (1pt) as well as one multi-colored “money ball” worth 2pts for a maximum score of 6pts per rack. The fifth rack will contain only money balls, maximizing the potential score to a high of 10 points. Each shooter will pick one of the fifth locations/racks and make it their “money rack” as they please. The maximum score players can reach in a single round is 40.

Curry won’t be among those seven players trying to snatch the title from Dame as he will participate in his personal matchup against WNBA superstar Sabrina Ionescu in a duel of long-range gunslingers as they’ll go against each other in a mini 3-point contest of their own.

Slam Dunk Contest: Jacob Toppin

The final event of Saturday will be the Slam Dunk contest in which G Leaguer and reigning champ Mac McClung of the Osceola Magic will try to fend off the trio of competitors aiming at finishing Mac’s reign before he can get crowned on back-to-back editions.

Boston Celtics All-Star wing Jaylen Brown will bring the name, Miami Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. will bring the youth, and New York Knicks Jacob Toppin will bring the (family) fame as he will be taking over his younger brother Obi’s accomplishments and cape trying to get the trophy back to the Toppin Home after Obi won this thing in the 2022 All-Star Weekend.

Each contestant will get two dunk attempts in the first round with five judges scoring those high flights. The two top combined scorers will move on to the finals where those players will face each other having to perform two more dunks with the highest scorer getting the chip and writing his name in golden ink in the history books of the Association.

Your 2024 contestants:

  • (C) Mac McClung (Osceola/Orlando Magic)
  • Jacob Toppin (Westchester/New York Knicks)
  • Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics)
  • Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Miami Heat)

And your 2024 judges:

  • Dominique Wilkins (1995 and 1990 Slam Dunk Contest Champion)
  • Fred Jones (2004 Champ)
  • Darnell Hillman (1977 Champ)
  • Gary Payton
  • Mitch Richmond

All-Star Game Sunday: Jalen Brunson

When and where: Sunday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. in Gainbridge Fieldhouse

How to watch on TV: TNT

The Knicks will keep their All-Star Game presence going on Sunday with Jalen Brunson making his debut in the event after Julius Randle already made it all the way there last season.

Sadly, an untimely injury will keep Jules on the sideline on Sunday as he couldn’t make his comeback in time for the mid-season showcase. That, however, doesn’t mean he didn’t add his third ASG star to an already-packed resume having been named an All-Star player in three of the last four seasons.

Brunson and Randle are the only Knicks players appearing in the ASG donning New York threads since Kristaps Porzingis made it there in 2018 following a seven-year run put together by future Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony.

The four All-Star nods received by Randle and Brunson combined in the past four seasons including this one are as many as all Knicks not named Melo received between 2002 and 2018 (Porzingis, Tyson Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire, and David Lee, each one).

Have fun, Knickerbockers!

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