This year the 2020 NBA All-Star Game will be taking place in our very own Chicago, IL. The event will be taking place this coming weekend, beginning on February 14th.

The NBA All-Star Game is a basketball game consisting of the best of the best players from around the league. NBA coaches then choose the players who they want to send to the game based off of their performance thus far this season. There will be two team captains, LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) & Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks). They selected their All-Star team roster from the pool of players chosen by the coaches. Now that the teams have been set, the fans from around the country will cheer on their favorite players.

This past January, the world lost one of the NBA’s greatest players. They will be honoring Kobe Bryant, and his daughter Gigi Bryant by having Team Giannis wear number twenty-four and Team LeBron wear number two. Kobe spent ten seasons with the Lakers wearing number twenty-four on his back, which later was retired by the organization. Number two had been Gigi’s number ever since she was old enough to pick up a ball and started hooping. Along with the numbers, patches with nine stars will be worn on the jersey representing the nine lives lost in the helicopter crash.

When it comes time for the All-Star Game, a word we often hear is “snubs.”  This word comes from players who should’ve been selected for the All-Star Game, yet didn’t uphold the popularity or recognition from the coaches that other players had had. Players like Devin Booker (Phoneix Suns), Andre Drummond (Cleveland Cavaliers), and Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards) are some of the few players who should’ve been selected based off of stats averages and overall performance.

The Rising-Stars game will kick off this weekend’s events on Friday night (Feb. 14). This game consists of only first and second-year players who are selected by the assistant coaches from all thirty teams in the NBA. The players are divided into two different teams based on where they are from. If a player was born outside the USA, they are a part of  “Team World.” The players who were born in the USA are part of “Team USA.” This is a good chance for the fans to see the future of the NBA.

If the NBA All-Star game and the Rising-Stars game were not enough, the NBA All-Star Saturday will be taking place. During this event, there will be a 3 point shooting contest, skill showdown, and the infamous slam dunk event. As for Chicago Bull fans, Zach LaVine will be competing in the 3 point shooting contest on Saturday (Feb 15). It will be exciting for the Bulls fans to watch one of their own take the court.

With an eventful season so far in the NBA, the All-Star weekend is a time of rest for all teams as they gear up for the last stretch of the season and make there final push for a playoff spot. Catch all the action this weekend in Chicago (Feb 14-16) on TNT.