The NBA announced the All-Star Saturday challengers

There are a few weeks left before the NBA All-Star Weekend, that will be played on February 17, 17, and 18 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. And while all the attention has been drawn by the choices of the selected player and then the ones made by LeBron James and Steph Curry, the two teams’ captains, today the National Basketball Association announced the participants for the Saturday challenges, placed between the Rookie Challenge on Friday and the proper game on Sunday.

The All-Star Saturday will be divided into three challenges, as always. The first, the Skills Challenge, will prove the players with their abilities with the ball and it’s the one usually dedicated to the guards, thing that makes very significant Joel Embiid’s presence at the challenge. Alongside with “The Process” there will be ou Williams, Jamal Murray, Lauri Markkanen, Kristaps Porzingis, Spencer Dinwiddie, Al Horford, and Donovan Mitchell.

Then, there will be the 3-Point Challenge, a clash that has become more interesting in the last few years thanks to the many shooters this league has, and we have to remember Marco Belinelli’s victory back in 2014. Eric Gordon will come back to defend the last year’s title, while Klay Thompson will try to win it again after the one got in 2016. The other ones will be Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Paul George, Wayne Ellington, Kyle Lowry, and Tobias Harris.

Finally, the challenge that should be the most interesting: the Slam Dunk Contest, that in the last year had had up and down outcomes. Aaron Gordon will try to win the title he missed two times, especially two years ago, when he performed an amazing dunk after taking the ball under his legs. He will be with Victor Oladipo, Larry Nance Jr., and the interesting Dennis Smith Jr.