Zach LaVine will defend his dunk title

Zach LaVine is dunking, the Splash Brothers are shooting, big men are showing off skills and the NBA’s All-Star Saturday Night looks like it could be better this year than it was last year.

In last year’s three-point contest, Curry had to go through Thompson and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving in the final round to bag home the trophy, which was only his first.

Stephen Curry will return to defend his crown against teammate Klay Thompson, Clippers guard J.J. Redick, Bucks swingman Khris Middleton, Rockets guard James Harden, Heat forward Chris Bosh, Raptors guard Kyle Lowry and Suns guard Devin Booker. Redick leads the league at 48.2 (100 of 249).

Often the most fun and overlooked competition every year is the Skills Challenge, which puts participants through dribbling, layup and passing courses. Four racks contain four orange balls (each worth one point) and one multi-colored “money” ball (worth two points). The players have one minute to shoot as many as the 25 balls as they can.

While he’s already been slated to play for team United States of America in the NBA’s Rising Stars Challenge as part of all-star weekend, rookie center Karl-Anthony Towns will also compete solo as part of the Skills Challenge, according to an announcement from the National Basketball Association.

Even though the NBA All-Star game is on Sunday, more of the All-Star spectacle takes place on Saturday night. The 2013 fist-round pick (10th overall) out of Lehigh set a career high with 37 points in his first game this season for Portland, which revamed its roster in the offseason. TNT will televise the All-Star Game in the US for the 14th consecutive year. Other events at NBA All-Star 2016 include the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game presented by Mountain Dew and the NBA Development League All-Star Game presented by Kumho Tire.