NBA 2024 All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge: Participants, date, time, where to watch and more explored
The 2024 Kia Skills Challenge is one of the biggest events on All-Star Weekend. It opens the State Farm All-Star Saturday night schedule by serving as the appetizer to the Starry 3-Point Contest. The event is part of the slate that also includes the highly-anticipated Stephen vs. Sabrina 3-Point Challenge and the AT&T Slam Dunk.
Over the years, the league has been trying to make the event more interesting. This season, a three-man group of players will try to win the competition. The selection is optimized towards making it a bigger thriller than it had even been before.
2024 NBA All-Star Skills Challenge details
The 2024 NBA All-Star Skills Challenge will be on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET. It will be held at the Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts. As the host team, the Indiana Pacers will be fielding a team composed of Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin and Myles Turner.
Challenging them will be Team Top Picks which is made up of three former No. 1 draft picks. Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic and Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs banner the group.
Team All-Stars is the last selection to compete. It is made up of first-time All-Stars Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors and Tyrese Maxey of the Philadelphia 76ers. Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young is also added to the mix.
The Pacers trio will be the fan favorites to win the NBA All-Star Skills Challenge. If they do so on Saturday, it will be the third straight time the host team has won the competition. In 2022, Team Cavs did it in Cleveland. Last year, it was Team Jazz who held the trophy when it was played in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The bookies in Las Vegas, however, have Team Picks as the +115 favorites. Team All-Stars is at +175 while the host team is listed at +230. The Pacers’ strong shooting, which offers the most points in the competition, makes them a formidable team. Myles Turner, Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin are collectively perhaps the best shooters among the challengers.
Where to watch 2024 NBA All-Star Skills Challenge?
NBA All-Star Saturday Night will be covered by TNT. The network’s “Inside the NBA” show will be on top of the events on the day. Streaming the whole weekend is available by subscribing to NBA League Pass.
The event can also be viewed with a subscription to DirectTV, DISH, Optimum, Spectrum and Xfinity. DirectTV users can go to channel 245 while DISH subscribers can hit 138. The NBA Skills Challenge will be on channel 37 in Optimum.
Spectrum users, based on location, can select 29, 67, 33, 3, 51, 61, 12, 40, 77, 35, 42 or 43. Basketball fans using Xfinity can choose 41, 42, 34, 32, 60, 40, 33, 25, 36, 30, 46 or 26.