2016 NBA All-Star Weekend will go down in the history books as quite possibly the best of all-time. From Friday night all the way through Sunday night, the star-studded event took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For the first time ever the festivities went outside of the United States and it marks just the beginning of more trips to foreign lands to celebrate the NBA’s best and brightest stars.
From Kevin Hart to Klay Thompson three-point shooting on Saturday night to Aaron Gordon emerging as a star and Kobe Bryant closing the final chapter of his career and from Zach LaVine and LeBron James throwing down huge slams over the weekend, there were moments aplenty made over the weekend that made it memorable.
10. Kevin Hart goes at it With Drake, Draymond Green
Comedian Kevin Hart proved why he’s the smartest man in the world right now. He went and participated in the 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend festivities but unlike years past, he was more hands on than ever before.
His weekend started on Friday when he was the coach of the USA Team in the 2016 All-Star Celebrity game and he went up against Drake, in more ways than one.
As the night went on and Team USA started to fall to Team Canada, Kevin Hart would eventually try and play hero and suit up for his country. Spoiler alert, his return to the court was the most exciting part of his surprise un-retirement.
His 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend tour continued when he and Draymond Green had an impromptu three-point shootout right before the real three-point contest began.
Legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer had the honors of doing the introductions.
It was assumed that Hart would lose to Green but little did everyone know, including the NBA, Hart actually would prove to be a threat to Green and he tied up the shootout with a buzzer-beating three.
It appeared that no one anticipated Hart winning, as you can see by the difference in trophies.
9. Kobe Bryant’s Introduction to his final NBA All-Star Game
8. Jabari Parker dunks on Kristaps Porzingis
Another view of the sick slam from the young Milwaukee Bucks star on the New York Knicks Latvian rookie sensation.
7. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James bring back old memories
Dwayne Wade and LeBron James famously teamed up on the Miami Heat from 2010 until 2014 and in their time together, the duo had some nasty plays and some huge alley-oop dunks. So when they get to play on the same team during the NBA All-Star Game, you know they relish the moments when they can connect for some big slams.
Here, seemingly right at the start of the game, Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry threw a lob to Dwyane Wade but Wade changed plans and threw up his own alley-oop to LeBron James.
Then right before halftime, Wade and LeBron connected one more time for a ridiculous slam this time Wade tossed the lob in mid-air with one-hand.
Wow!
Dwyane Wade with the beautiful Alley-oop to LeBron James for the slam!#NBAAllStarTO pic.twitter.com/LYnUu5E2n9
— NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) February 15, 2016
Wade wasn’t the only guy who worked well with LeBron James. Check out John Wall dropping a nice between-the-legs pass to LeBron and ‘The King’ put down a huge windmill slam.
6. LeBron James wants a piece of Kobe Bryant
5. Karl-Anthony Towns Does it For the Big Men
In the 2016 Skill Challenge, for the first time ever, big men were going to compete against the smaller guards. Going into the contest, Karl-Anthony Towns was the player with the worst odds to win the contest but he went all the way to the finals to face off with one of the favorites, Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas.
Towns showed his skills against the diminutive guard and he came out with a win to show the big men should stick around in the event going forward.
4. Klay Thompson Beats Stephen Curry
The 2016 Three-Point shootout came down to the final rack for Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson. In order to beat his teammate and defending three-point shootout champion Stephen Curry, Thompson had to have two dominant performances in him and he did just that to uncrown Curry but still take home some hardware back to the Bay Area.
3. Zach LaVine Wins the Dunk Contest
Zach LaVine might have won the 2016 Slam Dunk Contest and deservedly so but none of his ridiculous dunks topped one big slam from his main challenger, Aaron Gordon. The Minnesota Timberwolves young guard repeated as Slam Dunk champion but next year, Gordon might be coming for that crown.
2. Kobe Bryant shares wonderful moments with Pau Gasol and his daughter
Before the game started, Kobe Bryant has a special moment with his youngest daughter, Gianna.
For six years on the Los Angeles Lakers, Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant were teammates and they became very close friends. Pau and Kobe connected immediately based off their international roots and the friendship built from there. During the 2016 NBA All-Star Game many people waited to see if the two friends would matchup against each other and we finally got that moment in the fourth quarter, complete with Kobe hugging Pau and calling him out in Spanish.
1. Aaron Gordon Goes Under-the-legs, over the mascot
This dunk was beyond comprehension. Trying to describe Aaron Gordon’s ridiculous slam in the 2016 NBA Slam Dunk Contest is nearly impossible so just enjoy it, as much as you can.
These additional angle of the dunk make it look even more ridiculous.
That’s it, that’s all she wrote for the 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend in Toronto. Hopefully the 2017 NBA All-Star Weekend can live up to the hype.
The pressure is now on the city of Charlotte and the Hornets superstar owner, Michael Jordan.
