2023 NBA All-Star Saturday Night: Team Jazz wins Skills Challenge over Team Antetokounmpo, Team Rooks

As it has every year since 2003, the Skills Challenge kicked off NBA All-Star Saturday night. The league has often toyed with the format for the event, and they recently debuted a new three-team format that was back again this year. The teams faced obstacles that tested their ability in major facets of the game: dribbling, passing and shooting.

The three teams competing this year were Team Antetokounmpo, comprised of Jrue Holiday, who replaced Giannis Antetokounmpo), Thanasis Antetokounmpo, and Alex Antetokounmpo, Team Jazz made up of Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton, and Team Rooks made up of NBA rookies Paolo Banchero (Orlando Magic), Jaden Ivey (Detroit Pistons) and Jabari Smith Jr. (Houston Rockets). 

The challenge was split up into three different rounds: a relay round, a passing round and a shooting round. Whoever came out on top after those rounds would be crowned the victor. Things started off well for Team Rooks, as they put up the fastest time in the relay round. 

But then, it was Team Jazz’s time to shine. The trio of Clarkson, Kessler and Sexton won the passing round and then the shooting round to claim the overall crown. 

Considering that the event was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, it’s only fitting that the team of Jazz players came out on top. 

While this event is still mildly entertaining, it seems to have lost some luster and it could probably benefit from another shake-up in the future. The league is consistently trying to come up with ways to make All-Star Weekend as appealing as possible to the fans, and judging by many of the Twitter reactions to the Skills Challenge, it fell short in that regard.