Kristaps Porzingis was the winner of last season’s NBA Skills Challenge, and now he has some stiff competition in the upcoming contest.
On Thursday the NBA announced the players that would be taking part in the wacky skills challenge that has hit a bit of a streak now that they’ve decided to get more big men involved in dribbling, passing, and shooting skills.
The stars involved include 2017 champ Kristaps Porzingis along with Spencer Dinwiddie, Joel Embiid, Al Horford, Lauri Markkanen, Donovan Mitchell, Jamal Murray, and Lou Williams.
Here are the rules of the skills challenge, per the NBA:
Two players compete simultaneously on identical courses and the fastest finisher reaches the next round. In the first round, the eight players are paired to participate in four head-to-head competitions. The four winners advance to the second round, where two more head-to-head showdowns determine the two finalists.
It should be interesting to see these players go head-to-head, and not just because of the potential size differences. Having Markkannen in there as a rookie -- as good a season as he’s having -- against other crafty guys like Embiid will be interesting to watch.
Donovan Mitchell is probably the leader for the Rookie of the Year award and it might be nice for Utah Jazz fans to see him add a little hardware to the trophy case in Salt Lake City.