The NBA today announced that L.A. Clippers guard Lou Williams will participate in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge and forward Tobias Harris will participate in the JBL Three-Point Contest, as part of 2018 State Farm All-Star Saturday Night on February 17 at STAPLES Center. Each player’s participation marks their first career All-Star event participation.
Williams, the NBA’s leading bench scorer (22.2 ppg), is averaging career-highs in points (23.5), assists (5.2), three-point percentage (39.0%), free-throw percentage (89.5%) and minutes played in his 13th NBA season. He led the NBA in points scored in January (423) and ranked second in points per game (28.2 ppg), behind Stephen Curry (29.5 ppg). In addition to Williams, the eight-player field for the Taco Bell Skills Challenge also features Spencer Dinwiddie (Brooklyn), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia), Al Horford (Boston), Lauri Markkanen (Chicago), Donovan Mitchell (Utah), Jamal Murray (Denver) and Kristaps Porzingis (New York).
Harris, acquired in a January 29th trade with Detroit, is averaging career-highs in points per game (18.1), three-point percentage (40.9%) and free-throw percentage (84.6%) this season. He is one of only 13 players this season to have made over 100 three-pointers while shooting over 40% from beyond the arc. In addition to Harris, the eight-player field for the JBL Three-Point Contest also features Bradley Beal (Washington), Devin Booker (Phoenix), Wayne Ellington (Miami), Paul George (Oklahoma City), Eric Gordon (Houston), Kyle Lowry (Toronto) and Klay Thompson (Golden State).
The 16th Taco Bell Skills Challenge and the 32nd JBL Three-Point Contest are part of State Farm® All-Star Saturday Night, which will air on TNT and ESPN Radio at 8 p.m. ET. All-Star Saturday Night also includes the Verizon Slam Dunk.
In the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, two players compete simultaneously on identical courses and the fastest finisher reaches the next round. In the first round, the eight players are paired to participate in four head-to-head competitions. The four winners advance to the second round, where two more head-to-head showdowns determine the two finalists.
The JBL Three-Point Contest is a two-round, timed competition. Five shooting locations are positioned around the three-point arc. Four racks contain four NBA regulation balls (each worth one point) and one multicolored “money” ball (worth two points). The fifth rack is a special “all money ball” rack, which each participant can place at any of the five locations. Every ball on this rack is worth two points. The players have one minute to shoot as many of the 25 balls as they can. The three competitors with the highest scores in the first-round advance to the championship round.