The NBA Skills Challenge (officially named The Taco Bell Skills Challenge), is a National Basketball Association (NBA) contest held on the Saturday before the annual All-Star Game as part of the All-Star Weekend. First held in 2003, it is a competition to test ball-handling, passing and shooting ability. In the current version of the contest, two participants race against each other on identical courses by first dribbling between five obstacles while running down the court. Next, the player must throw a pass into an upright hoop. Then, the players must dribble back the full length of the court for a lay up. Shortly after, the players must dribble back down the court and hit a three pointer from the top of the basketball key. The match ends when the first player hits the three pointer.
Currently, the champion is decided via a single elimination tournament format, with a guard and a frontcourt player guaranteed to face off in the final round. Frontcourt players were first allowed and invited to participate in 2016, and the event has since crowned centers and forwards as winners, beginning with Karl-Anthony Towns that year[1] and followed by Kristaps Porziņģis in 2017, Bam Adebayo in 2020, and current champion Domantas Sabonis.
b Jameer Nelson was injured and was replaced by Mo Williams.
c Derrick Rose was injured and was replaced by Russell Westbrook.
d Stephen Curry was injured and was replaced by Rajon Rondo.
e For the 2013–14 season, the NBA All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge was revamped to have 4 teams of two players compete to a two-round time relay-style course.
f John Wall was replaced by Patrick Beverley due to resting purposes.
g Michael Carter-Williams was replaced with his teammate Robert Covington due to injuries. Covington would be replaced by Elfrid Payton due to resting purposes.
h Jimmy Butler was replaced by Dennis Schröder due to a shoulder injury.
i Starting with the 2014–15 season, the NBA All-Star Weekend Skills Challenge was revamped to a best of 8 tournament where after 8 players competed in the first round, only 4 would go to the semi-final round and 2 would participate in the championship round.
j Defending champion Patrick Beverley would be replaced by rookie Emmanuel Mudiay due to an ankle injury.
k Joel Embiid was replaced by Nikola Jokić due to a knee injury.
l Kristaps Porziņģis was replaced by Andre Drummond due to a torn ACL injury.
m Donovan Mitchell was replaced by Buddy Hield after Mitchell replaced Aaron Gordon for the Slam Dunk Contest.
Tournament Bracket (2015–present)[]
Starting with the 2015 edition of the Skills Challenge, a tournament format was adopted.
Jason Kidd
Steve Nash
Tony Parker
Kristaps Porziņģis
Domantas Sabonis
