The Portland Trail Blazers were well represented at NBA All-Star weekend, with Damian Lillard winning the 3-Point Contest, Deni Avdija playing in the All-Star Game for the first time, and Donovan Clingan and Yang Hansen taking the court against each other for the Rising Stars tournament.
Here’s a look back at some of the top moments from the festivities at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, for the Blazers and beyond.
During Friday’s Rising Stars action, Clingan blocked a couple of shots early and scored the first seven points for Team Melo as that squad opened against Yang and Team Austin. Yang had his moments as well, including a nice move to blow past Clingan for a layup. Yang finished with 10 points, but Clingan’s team won 40-34. Clingan scored six more in a losing effort against Team Vince.
Yang told reporters he wanted to get a moment with childhood idol Nikola Jokic, an All-Star for the Denver Nuggets.
“I can’t wait to kiss him,” Yang quipped.
No word on whether that meeting happened, but Yang did connect with former Blazers big man Robin Lopez as well as former NBA player Jeremy Lin.
Avdija was a bit awestruck Saturday when he caught a glimpse of his All-Star jersey for the first time. He sat for a news conference with reporters, then watched Lillard win the 3-Point Contest for the third time in four years.
In the opening round, Lillard tied for the second-highest score of 27 to advance to the final against the Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker and the Charlotte Hornets’ Kon Knueppel. Lillard hit 21 of his 27 attempts in the final round to put up 29 points. Booker still had a chance, and when he got hot it looked like he would surely match or surpass Lillard’s score. But Booker faded late to finish at 27.
It didn’t take long for Lillard to already look ahead to defending his three-point title, trying to recruit Stephen Curry and other legendary shooters to join him for the 2027 contest.
After watching a somewhat lackluster Slam Dunk contest on Saturday night, some fans were eager to see the star power that Lillard was pushing for in the three-point competition.
“And this should be the main event!” one online commenter said.
On Sunday, Avdija was a starter for Team World, His in-game highlights included dishing a nice alley-oop to Pascal Siakam, nailing a three-pointer and throwing down his own dunk.
And who was among those sitting courtside to watch Avdija and the other All-Stars? Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. At one point, a loose ball actually came the former president’s way, and he made the grab.
Team World was eliminated by Team Stripes in Game 3, thanks to an epic shooting performance from Kawhi Leonard. Playing in his home arena, Leonard made 11 of 13 shots, including 6 of 7 threes, to finish with 31 points and fuel the Stripes’ 48-45 win.
But in the championship game, it was Anthony Edwards and Team Stars that took over. Edwards scored eight points to lead the Stars to a dominant 47-21 victory over Stripes, and the Minnesota Timberwolves standout earned All-Star MVP honors.
Edwards was among the players who provided some entertaining moments during their news conferences on Saturday. He was asked what he thought about one social media team naming him the seventh “hottest” NBA player of all time.
“Oh, man,” Edwards answered, shaking his head. “My old lady ain’t going to like that. I mean, I ain’t gonna lie, my momma and daddy did a pretty good job.”
He added: “They ain’t wrong, though. They probably got me a little low on the list, honestly.”