2016 NBA All-Star Weekend is highlighted every year by the Saturday night festivities and the big game ending the weekend on Sunday night.
This year, there was immense excitement around all three contests for Saturday night including the new twist to the Skills Competition. They added big men to the contest to try and spice things up a little bit by adding guys like DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis.
One player will not participate in the competition and he will not defend his title like the defending Slam Dunk champion, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine and three-point shootout champion, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry will do on Saturday night.
Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverley, the 2015 skills competition champion, will skip the 2016 contest due to an injury.
Following from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, The Vertical.
After tweaking his ankle Wednesday night in a loss to Portland, Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverley will not travel to Toronto to defend his skills competition title at All-Star Weekend, league sources told The Vertical.
Beverley wants to rest the ankle over the All-Star break for the Rockets’ final push to make the Western Conference playoffs.
UPDATE:
Denver Nuggets rookie guard Emmanuel Mudiay will replace Patrick Beverley in the Skills Challenge, according to Yahoo! Sports Marc J. Spears.
Nuggets rookie guard Emmanuel Mudiay to replace Rockets guard Patrick Beverley (injured) in Skills Challenge. https://t.co/gswYlcsvzs
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) February 11, 2016
