It’s NBA All-Star Weekend, but not all the stars will shine equally. To highlight the best and worst performances all weekend long in Indianapolis, we’re grading the participants in every event from the Rising Stars on Friday through Sunday’s All-Star Game.
Following some memorable moments during All-Star Weekend’s first two nights, Sunday brought the main event — the NBA All-Star Game.
Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard became the first player since Michael Jordan in 1988 to win two events at an All-Star Weekend, winning Saturday night’s 3-point competition before taking home the All-Star Game MVP on Sunday. His 39 points were the most on the Eastern Conference roster as it defeated the West 211-186. Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves led all scorers with 50 points after racking up 31 points in the game’s final quarter.
Skills took center stage Saturday night during NBA All-Star Weekend, including a one-of-a-kind showdown between WNBA 3-point contest record holder Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty and NBA all-time 3-point leader Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, a two-time NBA 3-point contest winner who shares the single-round NBA record. Curry won with the best round by any player all night long.
Saturday’s events began with the skills challenge. The current format has teams of three compete in an obstacle course, a passing competition and a shooting competition. The hometown Indiana Pacers squad of All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, Rising Stars MVP Bennedict Mathurin and Myles Turner delighted the crowd by becoming the third host team in as many years to win.
The action wrapped up with the dunk contest, where Mac McClung won his second straight title over a field featuring All-Star Jaylen Brown of the NBA-best Boston Celtics and rookies Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Jacob Toppin.
Jump to grades: Rising Stars | Skills | 3-point | Dunks | Steph vs. Sabrina
ALL-STAR GAME
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Grade: A-
Stats
23 PTS | 11-16 FG | 7 REB | 1 AST
Analysis
As team captain, Antetokounmpo set a positive tone and produced a fourth consecutive All-Star win for his team. Antetokounmpo lamented missing all three of his 3-point attempts amidst a team record for made 3s. As usual, he did his best work around the basket with seven dunks. He also got the better of Pacers fans who counted up to the 10-second limit when he went to the free throw line, grabbing his miss and putting it back in.
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
Grade: B+
Stats
20 PTS | 8-13 FG | 3 REB | 3 AST
Analysis
The 2023 MVP opened the scoring Sunday, then took a step backward and let his teammates shine. Tatum’s 13 shots were second fewest among East players and fewer than his 3-point attempts a year ago (18). Tatum did knock down a Dirk Nowitzki-esque fadeaway and contributed a strong sequence when he stripped Kevin Durant going up, then made a 3 on the other end.
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
Grade: A
Stats
32 PTS | 11-15 FG | 7 REB | 6 AST
Analysis
Motivated to put on a show for his home fans, Haliburton opened the game by making 3-pointers on five consecutive East possessions early in the first quarter and finished with 10 of them on just 14 attempts — easily the highest percentage (71%) ever for an All-Star who took at least 10 3s. After that run, Haliburton actually got double-teamed at one point. That’s not a winning strategy against an unselfish player who also had six assists. Lillard and Brown scored more points than Haliburton’s 32, but both took more shot attempts. I would have voted Haliburton for MVP.
Damian Lillard, Milwaukee Bucks
Grade: A
Stats
39 PTS | 14-26 FG | 3 REB | 6 AST
Analysis
It’s a bummer that Lillard winning All-Star MVP resulted in boos for beating out the hometown star, Haliburton. It was a statement night for Lillard, who followed Saturday’s 3-point contest win with the second highest 3-pointer total ever in an All-Star Game (11) — the majority of them from well beyond the line. Lillard pulled up from half court during game action in the third quarter and made it, then did the same in garbage time. He also got the better of Durant during a brief 1-on-1 showdown, hitting a deep step-back 3 over Durant and then driving by him for a layup.
Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat
Grade: B
Stats
3 PTS | 1-2 FG | 2 REB | 2 AST
Analysis
Starting in place of the injured Joel Embiid, Adebayo took a game-low two shot attempts in his 17 minutes of action. His lone field goal was a running 3-pointer. Adebayo contributed a pair of assists, lobbing the ball to Antetokounmpo from the 3-point line.
Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic
Grade: B+
Stats
6 PTS | 3-9 FG | 9 REB | 5 AST
Analysis
The youngest All-Star in Sunday’s game, Banchero showed off his versatility with a team-high nine rebounds and five assists. He had a pair of powerful dunks, one coming when the defense parted in transition and the other reminiscent of Charles Barkley’s signature two-hand finishes.
Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
Grade: A
Stats
36 PTS | 15-23 FG | 8 REB | 3 AST
Analysis
The third East contender for MVP, Brown had 36 points to top last year’s total of 35. He knocked down six 3-pointers and was 9-of-11 inside the arc, including a left-hand layup to quiet critics of his off hand. Brown had a game-high five offensive rebounds for the second consecutive year and also showed enough effort on defense to come up with a couple of deflections.
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
Grade: B-
Stats
9 PTS | 3-9 FG | 7 REB | 2 AST
Analysis
The only player on either team not to attempt a shot inside the arc, Mitchell went 3-of-9 on 3s, including a one-leg runner that impressed the TNT broadcast crew. Mitchell pulled down seven boards, including snatching an offensive rebound with one hand, and had a length-of-the-court pass that ultimately set up a Brunson 3.
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Grade: B-
Stats
12 PTS | 5-12 FG | 4 REB | 5 AST
Analysis
On a record-setting night for the East from downtown, Brunson couldn’t find the range, missing seven of his nine 3-point attempts. Brunson handed out five assists, including a drop pass to Tyrese Maxey for a layup, and nearly dunked after a breakaway steal.
Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers
Grade: B
Stats
10 PTS | 3-5 FG | 3 REB | 3 AST
Analysis
The two 3s Maxey made, accounting for the bulk of his 10 points, were both noteworthy. He made a corner 3 just before the first-quarter buzzer, then hit a pull-up attempt going to his left. A pair of free throws for Maxey, who was fouled on a drive, were the most for any player.
Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
Grade: B
Stats
5 PTS | 2-6 FG | 3 REB | 7 AST
Analysis
Young’s night started inauspiciously with a travel shortly after he checked into the game in the second quarter. He delivered a pair of highlights, however, nutmegging Durant for a layup and making a 3-pointer to beat the third-quarter buzzer. His seven assists also included an alley-oop to Antetokounmpo thrown from beyond half court.
Scottie Barnes, Toronto Raptors
Grade: B+
Stats
16 PTS | 7-10 FG | 8 REB | 3 AST
Analysis
Showcasing the improved shooting that made him an All-Star in his third season, Barnes made back-to-back pull-up 3s in transition. He was a perfect 5-of-5 inside the arc, including a play where he waited for the defense to catch up in transition before dunking. Barnes added eight boards.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
Grade: B-
Stats
8 PTS | 4-10 FG | 4 REB | 3 AST
Analysis
Playing only the first half of his 20th All-Star Game, James still made highlights with his left-hand layup from the right side of the hoop and an alley-oop to Devin Booker. However, James missed all three of his 3-point attempts.
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Grade: A-
Stats
13 PTS | 6-8 FG | 4 REB | 9 AST
Analysis
Believe it or not, Jokic’s 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting were his most in six All-Star appearances. Jokic doesn’t typically relish looking for his own offense in this setting, preferring to find teammates. He handed out a game-high nine assists, but also had a memorable steal that he finished … below the rim.
Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns
Grade: B+
Stats
18 PTS | 7-12 FG | 5 REB | 5 AST
Analysis
The one-on-one challenge with Lillard was the most memorable part of Durant’s night. After Lillard hit a step-back 3, Durant took him to the post and gave him the “too little” sign after scoring. Lillard got the last word with a layup. Durant knocked down four 3s en route to 18 points in 25 solid minutes.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Grade: A
Stats
31 PTS | 12-16 FG | 4 REB | 6 AST
Analysis
Carrying the West starting lineup, Gilgeous-Alexander scored as may points (31) as the next two highest scorers in the starting five combined. He made a team-high seven 3-pointers in 10 attempts and successfully completed a lob to himself off the backboard — an All-Star staple that’s become increasingly common in regular-season games. Gilgeous-Alexander also had six assists, including a lob that resulted in a Durant layup.
Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
Grade: C+
Stats
7 PTS | 3-10 FG | 7 REB | 7 AST
Analysis
Doncic was able to laugh at one of the night’s lowlights, when he tried to go off the backboard to himself and got rim-checked. “I don’t dunk,” he joked on the TNT broadcast. Doncic continued a trend of low-effort All-Star performances, though he did hand out seven assists and combined with Jokic on a fast break where the ball never touched the floor, resulting in a Gilgeous-Alexander dunk.
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Grade: B-
Stats
16 PTS | 6-17 FG | 5 REB | 8 AST
Analysis
When Curry hit a 3 immediately after checking in, it looked like his hot streak might carry over from Saturday night, when he scored higher than any player in the 3-point contest while beating Sabrina Ionescu in their head-to-head showdown. Alas, Curry finished 4-of-13 beyond the arc after making a record 16 last year. He performed better as a playmaker, going behind the back to set up Durant and throwing a left-hand outlet to Doncic underhanded among his eight assists.
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Grade: B
Stats
15 PTS | 7-14 FG | 4 REB | 7 AST
Analysis
Despite missing six of his seven 3-point attempts, Booker contributed inside the arc — including a high-arcing turnaround jumper and a running hook of sorts — and dished out seven assists.
Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers
Grade: B+
Stats
6 PTS | 3-5 FG | 8 REB | 8 AST
Analysis
Entering Sunday, the 2017 All-Star MVP had handed out two career assists in six All-Star Games, making his Sunday total of eight — more than he had shot attempts (five) — an improbable outcome. As a scorer, Davis made a deep turnaround jumper over Mitchell. He also played some defense, stripping Banchero for one of the game’s three blocks.
Paul George, LA Clippers
Grade: A-
Stats
13 PTS | 5-9 FG | 1 REB | 2 AST
Analysis
George packed plenty into his 10 minutes of action, scoring 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting in that span. His performance was highlighted by an and-1 with a mismatch in the post against Young. George also bounced an alley-oop to James in transition.
Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers
Grade: C+
Stats
5 PTS | 2-4 | 2 REB | 1 AST
Analysis
On a night marked by hot 3-point shooting, Leonard stood out by airballing an attempt from long distance. Earlier, Leonard dribbled into a 3 that looked familiar to anyone who’s watched the Clippers. He scored a left-handed floater for his other bucket.
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Grade: C+
Stats
4 PTS | 2-3 FG | 1 REB | 1 AST
Analysis
Playing hot potato with teammate Karl-Anthony Towns was the lingering moment of Edwards’ game, which also included leaking out for a dunk. His three shot attempts and four points were both team lows.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
Grade: A
Stats
50 PTS | 23-35 FG | 8 REB | 3 AST
Analysis
Given the lack of energy elsewhere on his team, we’ll give Towns the benefit of the doubt that his historic fourth-quarter output — 31 points on 14-of-19 shooting, making him just the fourth player in All-Star history to score at least 50 total — was more running through the tape than padding his stats. Towns played hard from the start, going end-to-end for a dunk and finishing a dazzling layup in traffic. Late in the game, he put on a one-man dunk contest with three in a span of less than a minute before hitting back-to-back 3s to reach 50 points.
ALL-STAR SATURDAY NIGHT
, who won the 1991 dunk contest for the Boston Celtics. Alas, Brown’s effort to cover his eyes as Dee Brown famously did on his final dunk came only after the ball had gone through the net.
A couple of Brown’s dunks, including a pump followed by a windmill that scored a 48.8 and a 360 windmill that scored a 48.6, were the kind occasionally seen during game action. Brown did stir emotions with the latter dunk by paying tribute to the late Terrence Clarke, a Kentucky star who died in a car accident while preparing for the 2021 draft. Brown has called Clarke, who was from the Boston area, “my little brother.”
Jaime Jaquez Jr., Miami Heat
Grade: B-
Result: Eliminated in first round
Analysis
Not really thought of as a dunker, Jaquez showcased his vertical on his opening dunk, leaping a ducking O’Neal — who was filming at the time — and windmilling home. Jaquez’s second dunk, which came with him wearing a “Heat Culture” hat, lacked the same creativity. Jaquez lobbed the ball to himself for what wasn’t quite a 360, drawing the lowest score of the first round after missing his first attempt.
Jacob Toppin, New York Knicks
Grade: B-
Result: Eliminated in first round
Analysis
Toppin, who has seen action in five games for the New York Knicks on a two-way contract as a rookie, incorporated his brother — 2022 dunk contest winner Obi Toppin — into his opening dunk. Toppin grabbed the ball off his brother’s shoulders and finished with a reverse. Toppin’s second dunk, going between his legs for a 360 with two hands, had a higher degree of difficulty than Jaquez’s similar attempt but wasn’t enough to get him to the finals.
, Milwaukee Bucks
Grade: C+
Result: Eliminated in first round (20)
Under ordinary circumstances, you’d expect somebody to come up short of 20 points in the opening round of the 3-point contest. Beasley hit more than half his shots, including a deep 3, but came in last in large part because he went just 2-of-5 from his moneyball rack on the right wing.
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Grade: B
Result: Eliminated in first round (24)
After a slow start, Brunson was agonizingly close to being part of the tiebreaker, needing just one more make on his money rack to tie the top score of 26. Starting in the left corner as the only southpaw in the competition, Brunson went 1-of-5 on that rack but made all five of his attempts from the top of the key and one of the deep shots.
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
Grade: B+
Result: Eliminated in first-round tiebreaker (26/12)
Give the NBA’s tiebreaker format an F. Rules are rules, but in a situation where the top four players all had the same score, letting them all advance to the finals would have made far more sense than eliminating Haliburton because he got off to a relatively slow start in a 30-second tiebreaker round. Haliburton, who tied the all-time high score with an opening round of 31 last year but did not win, again lost in agonizing fashion.
Damian Lillard, Milwaukee Bucks
Grade: A
Result: Champion (26/16/26)
The 3-point contest remains “Dame Time.” Going last as the defending champ, Lillard edged into a four-way tie by making all five of his attempts from the top and his last three moneyball shots. He spared us drama in the tiebreaker, making a deep 3 to help edge Haliburton, and then matched his first-round total for a win in the finals. This time, Lillard did sweat it out a bit, missing his first four tries from the right corner after matching Young’s total before knocking down his final attempt to repeat as champion.
, Utah Jazz
Grade: B
Result: Eliminated first round (25)
Markkanen will rue his placement of the moneyball rack. Remarkably, the left wing he chose was the only rack on which Markkanen did not hit at least four shots. Markkanen got just two extra points by going 2-of-5 from his money rack, meaning he was eliminated despite making 19 of his 25 shot attempts.
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
Grade: C+
Result: Eliminated first round (21)
Wearing the jersey of his teammate Sam “Money” Merrill, who’s shooting 44% from 3-point range this season, Mitchell started by making just two of his five shots from the first two racks — including his moneyball rack. Mitchell heated up by making 4 of 5 from the top of the key, as well as his second deep attempt, but still wasn’t close to reaching the finals.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
Grade: A-
Result: Eliminated in finals (26/16/22)
Like Lillard, Towns was bidding to win a second 3-point contest, which would have helped cement his claim as the greatest shooting big man in NBA history. After scoring 26 in the opening round, Towns set a strong pace in the tiebreaker round by making all five of his moneyball shots from the left wing and 4 of 5 from the left corner, scoring 16 points. Towns’ pace slowed in the finals, where he finished last of the three competitors.
Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
Grade: A-
Result: Eliminated in finals (26/15/24)
After missing his first four shots of the opening rack, Young rarely missed the rest of the night, going 16-of-20 the rest of his first round — including 5-of-5 on his moneyball rack — to join the four-way tie for the top score. Young went 5-of-5 from a different moneyball rack on the left wing in the tiebreaker round, then put up a score of 24 in the finals that easily could have won the competition.
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Grade: D
Result: Third place
Analysis
From the start, the team of the past three No. 1 picks did not seem to take the challenge particularly seriously. Banchero went the wrong direction on the obstacle course shortly after Maxey made the same mistake. Then Edwards missed all three jumpers badly while shooting with his non-dominant left hand — forfeiting any chance at winning that round. The No. 1 picks finished a distant third in the passing competition before rallying somewhat to finish second in shooting.
Victor Wembanyama in transition, setting up a three-point play.
Matas Buzelis, G League Ignite
Grade: B+
Game 1: 7 PTS | 3-7 FG | 2 REB | 2 AST
Final: 0 PTS | 0-3 FG | 0-1 3PT | 1 STL
Analysis
The highest-rated prospect on G League Ignite at No. 6 in ESPN’s rankings, Buzelis sent Team Detlef to the final by knocking down a difficult turnaround jumper after an extended offensive drought.
He also showcased his shotmaking by hitting a step-back jumper with a high release and a contested 3. That didn’t carry over to the final, where Buzelis missed all three of his shots and dribbled the ball off his foot for a turnover.
, Cleveland Charge
Grade: B-
Game 1: 5 PTS | 2-6 FG | 2 AST | 1 STL
Final: 2 PTS | 1-3 FG | 2 REB | 1 AST
Analysis
Bates, who’s on a two-way contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, was active throughout. He had an impressive finish in transition in the final and a long rainbow 3 off the dribble in the semifinals, when he also laid the ball off to teammate San Antonio Spurs
Grade: A
Game 1:11 PTS | 5-6 FG | 7 REB | 2 BLK
Analysis
We can quibble with Wembanyama’s five turnovers, some of them the result of careless ball handling, but he still showcased the breadth of his one-of-a-kind skills.
Wembanyama made five of his six shot attempts, most of them around the rim. That included a transition dunk in which he waited for the defense to come to him, drawing an and-1 in the process.
The top pick of the 2023 draft then threw a lob to Jaime Jaquez Jr. after running pick-and-roll, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and had a pair of blocks — one of them erasing a Mac McClung shot that could have ended the game.
Walker Kessler, George had one of the night’s most memorable highlights. That was George’s only field goal, as he missed all three tries beyond the arc. He did impress on defense, stealing a backdoor pass and stripping Bennedict Mathurin.
Vince Williams Jr., Memphis Grizzlies
Grade: B
Game 1: 3 PTS | 1-2 3PT | 2 AST | 1 STL
Analysis
A last-minute replacement for the injured Dyson Daniels, Williams made a pull-up 3 in transition for his only basket of the night.
