The NBA Skills Challenge (officially named the Kia Skills Challenge) is a

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) contest held on the Saturday before the annual

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...

as part of the All-Star Weekend. First held in 2003, it is a competition to test ball-handling, passing, and shooting ability. Until the 2022 edition, two participants raced against each other on identical courses by first dribbling between five obstacles while running down the court. Next, the player must throw a pass into an upright hoop. Then, the players must dribble back the full length of the court for a lay up. Shortly after, the players must dribble back down the court and hit a three pointer from the top of the basketball key. The match ends when the first player hits the three pointer. The champion was decided via a single elimination tournament format, with a guard and a frontcourt player guaranteed to face off in the final round. Frontcourt players were first allowed and invited to participate in 2016, and the event has since crowned centers and forwards as winners, beginning with Karl-Anthony Towns that year and followed by

Kristaps Porziņģis Kristaps Porziņģis (; born 2 August 1995) is a Latvian professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "The Unicorn" for his ability to make plays and shoot 3-pointers as a Center ...

in 2017, Bam Adebayo in 2020, and Domantas Sabonis in 2021. Antetokounmpo Brothers

In the current format, used since 2022, three teams participate in a four-round competition. One of the teams competing is always composed of players from the host team. The first round is identical to previous editions, this time as a team relay, with the fastest team earning 100 points. The second round is a passing challenge where players must pass the ball through different targets, with the highest-scoring team also earning 100 points. The third round is a shooting challenge where players must make field goals from different spots, with the highest-scoring team earning 200 points. The two highest-scoring teams overall advance to the final round, which is a half-court shootout, where the fastest team to make a field goal from the half-court line wins the entire skills challenge. The format was slightly altered in 2023, with the challenge now ending after three rounds. The order of the first three rounds is reversed and the half-court shootout becomes a tiebreaker round. The current champions are Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley from the Team Cavaliers in 2025.

Winners

All-time participants

* The time is the all-time event record.NBA.co
"Deron Williams to defend his Skills Challenge Record, 2010 All Star"
* Jameer Nelson was injured and was replaced by Mo Williams. * Derrick Rose was injured and was replaced by Russell Westbrook. * Stephen Curry was injured and was replaced by Rajon Rondo. * For the season, the NBA All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge was revamped to have 4 teams of two players compete to a two-round time relay-style course. * John Wall was replaced by Patrick Beverley due to resting purposes. * Michael Carter-Williams was replaced with his teammate Robert Covington due to injuries. Covington would be replaced by Elfrid Payton due to resting purposes. * Jimmy Butler was replaced by Dennis Schröder due to a shoulder injury. * Starting with the season, the NBA All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge was revamped to a best of 8 tournament where after 8 players competed in the first round, only 4 would go to the semi-final round and 2 would participate in the championship round. * Defending champion Patrick Beverley would be replaced by rookie Emmanuel Mudiay due to an ankle injury. * Joel Embiid was replaced by Nikola Jokić due to a knee injury. * Kristaps Porziņģis was replaced by Andre Drummond due to a torn ACL injury. * Donovan Mitchell was replaced by Buddy Hield after Mitchell replaced Aaron Gordon for the Slam Dunk Contest.

Tournament Bracket (2015–2021)

''Starting with the 2015 edition of the Skills Challenge, a

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

format was adopted.'' ;

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

; 2016 ; 2017 ;

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

; 2019 ;

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

; 2021

Notes

References

External links