Northwest Division All-Star Saturday Night
With the last pre-All Star games going into the books, all eyes turn to the festivities in Indiana. But what if each division had their own events?
The All-Star weekend is one of the premier events of the NBA season. Players from across the country convene to one place to put on a spectacle for fans around the world. In this fun thought experiment, hypothetical rosters were made for each of the three All Star Saturday Night events. The dunk, three point and skills contest are full of Northwest players who will fight it out to bring home the illustrious(and completely fictitious) Northwest All Star Trophy. Each of these events assumes that everyone is healthy and willing to compete in their given event.
Image from X.com(Twitter)
Three Point Contest
Contestants: Isaiah Joe(OKC), Malcolm Brogdon(POR), Karl-Anthony Towns(MIN), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope(DEN), Lauri Markkanen(UTA), Cason Wallace(OKC), Michael Porter Jr.(DEN)
This contest features some of the most lethal long-range shooters in the league. Both Markkanen and Towns are competing in the league-wide competition on All Star Saturday night, but players like Joe and Brogdon deserved serious consideration for a spot. The NBA wants to feature the star power, though, so some of these snipers are overlooked in favor of the bigger names. Regardless, there isnβt a better competition to show off todayβs NBA than the three-point contest and if each division had to trot out their own squad of shooters, the Northwest division might just shoot everyone else off the court.
Image from The New York Times
Dunk ContesT
Contestants: Shaedon Sharpe (POR), Anthony Edwards (MIN), Jalen Williams (OKC), Aaron Gordon (DEN), John Collins (UTA)
Again, what a group. Collins and Gordon have already competed in previous dunk contests and Sharpe was invited to last yearβs before needing to drop out. Williams and Edwards bring the star power here, but both can hold their own with the highest flyers in the league. The NBA has toyed with the idea of making the dunk contest a longer, tournament-style event where dunkers go against each other dunk for dunk in order to move on. That might be a bit of a stretch, but perhaps each division having a representative based on the winner of a smaller competition would make that vision more of a reality.
Image from the Denver Post
Skills Contest
Contestants: Team Timberwolves (Mike Conley, Nickeil-Alexander Walker, Jaden McDaniels), Team Thunder (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Josh Giddey), Team Nuggets (Nikola JokiΔ, Jamal Murray, Reggie Jackson)
Over the years, the skills challenge has gone from an individual competition to a team format. The change has been welcomed, but there are still some who are nostalgic for the timed obstacle course that was featured in the competition years ago. Why not combine both? Have the teams compete in the group competitions to determine who gets to move on to the individual round. That way, the fans get to see the teams work together and the individuals shine. The Northwest Division is spoiled for choices here and could potentially get an All-Star showdown between the top two MVP candidates in Gilgeous-Alexander and JokiΔ.
