This weekend basketball fans will be treated to some high-flying action in the NBA All-Star weekend happening from tomorrow to Sunday.
Taking place in New Orleans, the annual event sees many celebrities come out to relax in the family setting.
There will be three main events to look out for and they are the dunk contest, the celebrity game and the All-Star match.
With the dunk contest, a number of youngsters who have just made it into the NBA are given an opportunity to show off their slam dunk tricks.
This is a very intriguing show- case because we get to see skills that are seldom seen in a real basketball setting.
For instance, in one year, LA Clippers player Blake Griffin had a car parked just before the ring area and he leapt over it and still made the shot. In another famous case, Minnesota’s Chase Bundinger planted rap mogul P Diddy a few metres away from the ring and then jumped over him to make the dunk.
It remains to be seen what the contestants have in mind for this weekend but one thing is certain, it will be better and more dangerous than before.
Then comes the celebrity game, which is just that. The NBA calls out all the Hollywood faces who are interested in playing some serious basketball against each other.
One year Chris Brown played and proved to be so good some NBA players felt he should have pursued the sport as a career.
Rapper J Cole also made the cut in the previous All-Star line-ups and it became very clear why he had once considered playing ball before becoming rapping. The fastest man alive, Usain Bolt, also played and showed some moderate skill.
Beliebers were treated to an appearance by Justin Bieber last year. He played so well they even crowned him the MVP (most valuable player) of the game. However, sadly for his fans, Bieber did not make the cut to play this year.
Two time MVP, Kevin Hart, returns and will bounce the ball with the likes of TV host Nick Cannon, Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams and Scandal’s (known as The Fixer here) Columbus Short.
Because basketball is a staple sport in the US, almost everyone who will be on the court knows how to play even though they are not professionals. The same can’t be said when we have our South African celebrity basketball games.
The third show, which will take place on Sunday, is the All-Star game where the best players who hail from the west coast will meet the best from the east coast. This is another show-off type game where the players focus more on humiliating each other than winning.
Whenever there is an LA Lakers game one thing is certain, you will find renowned actor Jack Nicholson at courtside. He has gone to as many matches as he could during his life and has probably seen almost all of the 16 championships the team has won.
He is said to love the Lakers so much that when film directors want him for a movie, they have to shoot it around the Lakers’ season schedule. When he can’t catch a Lakers game live because he is working, Nicholson has a TV in his trailer so that he can watch the game during breaks.
Every now and again a celebrity goes to an NBA game and they are zoomed in on the big screen and their full name is displayed.
Nicholson is such a regular that they just caption his image as “Jack”.
With the All-Star weekend upon us, it is possible Jack will just drop everything and go to New Orleans.
• Supersport will broadcast the games live as follows: Saturday: All-Star Weekend: Rising Star Challenge 4am; Sunday: All-Star Weekend: All-Star Saturday Night: 3.30am; Monday: All-Star Weekend: West Coast versus East Coast: 3am.