It was announced today by the NBA that Wizards Guard John Wall is one of eight possible participants to join Hornets guard Chris Paul in the Taco Bell® Skills Challenge, to be held on Saturday night, February 19th, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles as part of the NBA’s All-Star Weekend festivities. Wall will be joined by Golden State's Stephen Curry, Clippers guard Baron Davis, Sacramento's Tyreke Evans, Lakers guard Derek Fisher, San Antonio's Tony Parker, Chicago's Derrick Rose, who won the competition in 2009, and Oklahoma City's Russel Westbrook.
For the first time, the NBA and Taco Bell are giving fans the opportunity to determine participants in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge as part of the “Choose Your Squad” program. Beginning today and running through 11:59 p.m. ET on Feb. 14, fans can log on to NBA.com/chooseyoursquad to choose from these eight players to determine four of the five participants in the 2011 event in Los Angeles. New Orleans guard Chris Paul will be the fifth player in the event as the spokesperson of the “Choose Your Squad” program. Each of the possible participants will be featured at NBA.com/chooseyoursquad, where fans can see highlights of all players eligible in the fan vote.
This year’s event will include a new charitable element from NBA Cares and Taco Bell Foundation for Teens’ “Graduate to Go” program, a national initiative to help teens graduate from high school through real-world experiences. Each of the five participants will be matched with a teen member of a local Boys & Girls Club. The teen paired with the event winner will receive a four-year college scholarship, while the other scholarship winners will each receive an educational scholarship, all courtesy of the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens.
Introduced at NBA All-Star 2003 in Atlanta – the Taco Bell® Skills Challenge will feature five players competing in a two-round timed “obstacle course” consisting of dribbling, passing, and shooting stations. All players must observe basic NBA ball-handling rules while completing the course. The two players with the fastest times from the first round advance to the finals with the order of competition determined by inverse order of the first-round times. At the discretion of the referee, television instant replay may be consulted for clarification of rules compliance.