All eyes on Saturday and Sunday night for Milwaukee’s contingent in San Francisco
The Milwaukee Bucks will be sending a three player-strong contingent to San Francisco a week from now to take part in the NBA’s 2025 All-Star Weekend events (from Feb. 14th through the 16th). They were able to send three last year as well (shoutout Malik Beasley!) and will actually expand their footprint beyond the three-point contest and All-Star Game. With Andre Jackson Jr. taking part in the Dunk Contest, we’ve a couple of rooting interests across a good portion of All-Star Saturday night, too.
Since All-Star Weekend is prone to regular changes in format, scoring, how teams are picked, etc., we wanted to write a handy dandy go-to guide to catch you up on everything you can expect from your Milwaukee Bucks in California.
Away we go!
Giannis Antetokounmpo v. Damian Lillard in the All-Star Game?
We’ve helpfully (I hope) covered the somewhat radical overhaul in the All-Star Game for this year’s edition. Since our last update, the All-Star Draft was held on TNT, resulting in the following teams:
Team Shaq
- LeBron James (L.A. Lakers), Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors), Anthony Davis (Dallas Mavericks), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics), Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns), Damian Lillard (Milwaukee Bucks), James Harden (LA Clippers), Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics)
Team Chuck
- Nikola Jokić (Denver Nuggets), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs), Pascal Siakam (Indiana Pacers), Alperen Sengun (Houston Rockets), Karl-Anthony Towns (New York Knicks), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Team Kenny
- Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves), Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks), Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies), Jalen Williams (Oklahoma City Thunder), Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers), Evan Mobley (Cleveland Cavaliers), Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons), Tyler Herro (Miami Heat)
A fourth team, Team Candace, will consist of the players from the winning team of the Rising Stars Challenge from Friday night. My colleague Kyle Carr helpfully pointed out to me that the “GMs” picked on themes; Shaq had US stars, Chuck the international stars, and Kenny the rising stars. There has been no schedule posted yet, although I’d be surprised if Teams Chuck and Shaq faced each other in a semifinal game. Instead, the league will probably try to rig it so that the biggest possible names see each other in the Final.
So will we see Giannis take on teammate Damian Lillard in a brief drag race to 40? If Adam Silver has his way, absolutely.
Game one of the All-Star Game tournament starts on TNT & TruTV at 7:20 p.m. CST, game two is scheduled for 8:10 p.m. CST, and the final is set to start at 9:00 p.m. CST.
Defending his three-point title
Damian Lillard persevered in last year’s three-point contest having cinched the title on his final possible shot. That would lay the groundwork for him to do one better the following night with a performance that earned him the All-Star Game MVP award. He’s reenlisted in the 2025 three-point contest to mount a defense and see if he can’t make it two-for-two as a Buck.
As usual, the ruleset is simpler and more convoluted than you’d expect. Each player gets 70 seconds to run through five racks of five balls each (one of which is a special Starry (mmmm!) ball) where a make with a regular ball is worth one point and a Starry ball worth two. There are also two special Starry Range balls further out worth three points if you make it. From there, just make more than the other guys to be one of three guys to advance to the final and do it over again. Easy, right?
Dame will have to best Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham, Darius Garland, Tyler Herro, Buddy Hield, Cam Johnson, and Norman Powell.
This is the second event of All-Star Saturday night which starts on TNT at 7:00 p.m. CST.
Let Andre dunk
Finally, second-year Buck Andre Jackson Jr. threw his hat in the Dunk Contest ring relatively early on when names were being unveiled. A Buck hasn’t taken part in a Dunk Contest since Pat Connaughton’s appearance in the 2020 Dunk Contest. Andre’s obviously a heck of an athlete and refined observers of Milwaukee Bucks basketball will have noted that he has begun attempting dunks with increased regularity since his announcement as a participant. Sometimes, it hasn’t quite landed:
Others look good!
I’ve no doubt that he’ll be able to bring the pain, but I do get a little worried about whether he’ll be able to master the skills needed to add the appropriate amount of finesse needed to turn a dunk from an exclamation point to something more like a work of physical art. Jackson will be able to rely on teammates like Giannis and Pat for advice, and there’s every possibility one of his teammates could get involved as a prop of some sort. If he can do a cool dunk or two, I think we’d be all be pleased.
This is the third event of All-Star Saturday night which starts on TNT at 7:00 p.m. CST.
So there we have it, your Milwaukee Bucks schedule for All-Star Weekend. We wish all three guys plenty of luck, hope they enjoy themselves, and importantly, that they’re able to put on a show for the entire league!