The 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, from February 17 to 19. The weekend will feature a variety of events, as in years past. Before the All-Star Game on Sunday night, fans can soak in the action of the numerous skills competitions. Here we give some bold predictions for NBA All-Star Saturday 2023 events, including the Slam Dunk Contest, 3-point Contest, and the Skills Challenge.

The NBA All-Star break is not exactly the season's halfway point since most teams have played about 73 percent of the 82-game regular season. This leaves the symbolic “second half” to be the stretch run before the playoffs.

Remember that the 72nd NBA All-Star Game will take place a day after the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest, Starry 3-point Contest, and the Kia Skills Challenge are held. The All-Star Game will be on Sunday at 8:30 pm ET, and the All-Star Game Draft will take place an hour before the game itself. The dunk and three-point contests often steal the show on Saturday, and this year's full field of participants has been announced.

Let's have a preview of All-Star Saturday, including some bold predictions for each event's winner.

2023 Kia Skills Challenge

The skills challenge in All-Star Saturday has a new format with three teams competing in three rounds followed by a championship round. The shooting round includes five different spots on the floor with varying shot values and players cannot shoot the same shot twice. In the passing round, players have 30 seconds to pass into three moving targets with different values. The relay round involves a timed relay course, including outlet passing, dribbling, and shooting. The championship round then requires teams to make a half-court shot as quickly as possible with a maximum time limit of 90 seconds.

Paolo Banchero, Jaden Ivey, and Jabari Smith Jr. make up the rookie team. Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler, and Collin Sexton will represent the Jazz in Utah. Giannis Antetokounmpo and his brothers Kostas and Alex will compete as the third team.

We feel like chemistry is going to be paramount in this event. As such, we'll take Team Jazz to win.

2023 Starry 3-point Contest

After the skills challenge, the 3-point contest is the second event of All-Star Saturday. Competitors each have 70 seconds to shoot up to 27 balls from five spots around the court, including “money balls” worth two points and one rack of all money balls. The three players with the highest score in the opening round move on to the championship round. Here, two Mountain Dew Zone spots further back on the wings with one ball worth three points are also available, as in last year's contest.

The participants are:

Tyrese Haliburton, G, Indiana Pacers
Tyler Herro, G, Miami Heat
Buddy Hield, G, Indiana Pacers
Kevin Huerter, G, Sacramento Kings
Damian Lillard, G, Portland Trail Blazers
Lauri Markkanen, F, Utah Jazz
Julius Randle, F, New York Knicks
Jayson Tatum, F, Boston Celtics

We predict that Lillard will win the 3-point contest. He's now killing it with the ball, hitting 4.2 triples per game on a 37.2 percent clip. We have him facing Tatum and Hield in the championship round.

2023 AT&T Slam Dunk Contest

The dunk contest is the final event of the night. The two-round competition will feature four dunkers judged by a panel of five judges who score each dunk from 40 to 50. Each dunker will have 90 seconds plus one additional try to complete one dunk and will be limited to three attempts for each scored dunk in both rounds.

The participants are:

KJ Martin, F, Houston Rockets
Mac McClung, G, Delaware Blue Coats/Philadelphia 76ers
Trey Murphy III, F, New Orleans Pelicans
Jericho Sims, C, New York Knicks.

The judges are:

Jamal Crawford, three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year
Lisa Leslie, eight-time WNBA All-Star
Karl Malone, 14-time NBA All-Star
Harold Miner, two-time Slam Dunk champion
Dominique Wilkins, nine-time NBA All-Star and two-time Slam Dunk champion

Former No. 1 pick Kenyon Martin should be happy with our pick. His son, KJ, should be this season's slam dunk king. Sure, Sims' spring is maybe the most impressive, but I'm not convinced he's flexible or inventive enough to excel in this competition. Keep in mind that for a bad Rockets club, Martin has quietly had a good season. We feel like he'll pull something crazy out of his bag of tricks.

2023 NBA All-Star Game Draft

LeBron James has had a remarkable streak in the NBA All-Star Game Draft. He has been a captain in all six years of its existence. This season, Giannis Antetokounmpo stands in his way.

We predict that after the draft is done, we'll have the following teams:

Team LeBron

LeBron James (Captain)
Jayson Tatum
Donovan Mitchell
Ja Morant
Kyrie Irving
Bam Adebayo
Jaren Jackson, Jr.
Julius Randle
Paul George
Damian Lillard
DeMar DeRozan
De'Aaron Fox

Team Giannis

Giannis Antetokounmpo  (Captain)
Nikola Jokic
Joel Embiid
Lauri Markkanen
Luka Doncic
Domantas Sabonis
Pascal Siakam
Anthony Edwards
Jaylen Brown
Jrue Holiday
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Tyrese Haliburton

With these teams drafted, we expect an exciting, high-flying All-Star Game. We have Team Giannis eventually winning by double-digits.