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All-Star: Skills Challenge Preview

Nikola Jokić will represent the Nuggets in the 2017 All-Star Skills Challenge set for Saturday, Feb. 18 at 6pm MST at Smoothie King Center. The Skills Challenge will take place as the first series of three events to occur on All-Star Saturday Night. Proceeding the challenge will be the Three-Point Contest and then the night will end with the Slam Dunk Contest.

The event is made up of players from all around the NBA competing for the fastest completion of a series of skills tests. Four frontcourt players will join four guards in the eight-player field – the first time in the event’s 14-year history that multiple frontcourt players will compete. A head-to-head, bracket-style tournament format will be used for the second year in a row.

Skills Challenge is a three-round, obstacle-course competition that tests dribbling, passing, agility and three-point-shooting skills. Jokić will go into the Skills Challenge as one of four big men. The others are DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, and Kristaps Porzingis. The rest of the field is made up of smaller players including Devin Booker, Gordon Hayward, Isaiah Thomas, and John Wall.

Jokić will be the third player in Nuggets history to ever appear in the Skills Challenge. Mudiay participated in last year’s competition and Earl Boykins previously represented Denver in both the 2004 and 2005 Skills Challenge.