Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and
James Harden, former teammates with the
Oklahoma City Thunder, will have a busy All-Star weekend in Houston next weekend.
On Friday, Feb. 15, Westbrook and Harden will both be coaches in the Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity game at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Assistant coaches will be singer/actress Queen Latifah and TV personality Samantha Harris.
The celebrity teams will include Kevin Hart and Nick Cannon of “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” Grammy winning singer Ne-Yo, singer/actor Trey Songz, Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, rapper/actor Common, ABC News correspondent John Schriffen ESPN host Ryen Russillo and Terrence Jenkins of “E! News.”
On this list of “celebrities” the only person I will admit to linking is Common, but that’s not enough for me to watch this. Maybe Westbrook and Harden will end up playing in the game and this will all end with a one-on-one matchup between the two guards to decide the contest.
On Saturday, Harden and Westbrook will both anchor teams for the Western Conference during the Shooting Star competition. This contest is part of the All-Star Saturday night events that include the Slam Dunk Competition, Three Point Shootout, Skills Competition and more, all broadcast on TNT.
The Shooting Star competition features one current NBA player, one current WNBA player and a NBA legend on each team. The Shooting Star competition is a shooting contest where the team of three has to knock down a shot. The team rotates through six different spots on the floor that increase in difficulty but the team can’t advance until they have each knocked down a shot. Each team will select a specific player rotation and the team that gets through the six spots the fastest wins.
There will be four teams of three, two representing the Western Conference and two representing the Eastern Conference. Joining Westbrook and Harden are WNBA stars Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx), Tina Thompson (Seattle Storm) and two NBA legends with the Houston Rockets, Sam Cassell and Robert Horry. Cassell and Horry were teammates on the Rockets teams that won back-to-back titles in 1994-95.
Durant, Westbrook and Harden will all be busy on Sunday, Feb. 17, with the NBA All-Star Game at the Toyota Center in Houston. Durant, a four-time All-Star, was voted as a starter for the third straight year while Westbrook and Harden will both be reserves.
I realize the All-Star is not this weekend, but next weekend, especially when you look at the schedule OKC has over the next week.
Friday, Feb. 8 vs. Phoenix in OKC, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 10 at Phoenix, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 12 at Utah, 8 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 14 vs. Miami, in OKC, 7 p.m.
