ThreadCap: All Star Sunday (#TorchPass)

Kudos to those of you who made it through the NBA All Star Saturday events. To be honest, they put me to sleep (literally, I fell asleep trying to watch them). To recap the action… Jayson Tatum edged out Trae Young in the Skills Competition via a half court heave… former Cav Joe Harris lived up to his “Smokin’ Joe” persona by torching the competition (including Steph Curry) to win the Three Point Contest crown… and Hamidou Diallo scaled Shaq to best Dennis Smith, Jr. in the Slam Dunk Competition.

In between the mostly pedestrian action, there was an inane pop-a-shot competition featuring Shaq and Kenny Smith, and what should have been a highlight (yet was actually a sad lowlight) of Dell Curry and his gang of past historic three point shooting champ teammates (Ray Allen, Mark Price and Glenn Robinson) throwing up treys for charity. Sad, because I’d rather remember these guys for their past glory from beyond the arc rather than the clankfest that ensued. The NBA was kind enough to round up the total so as not to shortchange the local charity.

Anyway, onto tonight’s main event. Per usual, this should be a defenseless display of ridiculous threes and parade of windmill dunks and alley oops. It’s Team LeBron (with the King representing the West for the first time ever) versus Team Giannis (with the Alphabet representing the East for likely the first of many times). Some have referred to LeBron’s squad as “Team Tampering” given that many of the players LBJ selected in the playground style draft process are potential free agents to be, or at least possible trade targets for his Lakers. A more understated (yet maybe more compelling observation) is that this could mark the last All Star Game where LeBron will be considered in the argument for the best player in the game.

Outside of the Super Bowl, where the outcome actually matters, there might not be a brighter spotlight in the sports world than the one cast upon the NBA All Star Game. As such, it’s typically where the passing of the torch from one generational star to the next is magnified. We may witness just such a moment tonight.

Here are the full rosters for both sides…

Catch all the action starting at 8pm EST on TNT… and, as always, chime in here with your torchy hot takes.