Memphis Grizzlies star will team with Tyrese Haliburton in Clutch Challenge
Besides the new format, the Rising Stars game will feature a contest before the championship game, ideally to let the team that just played and won a few minutes to rest and strategize for the championship game.
The contest, which has been dubbed the Clorox Clutch Challenge will pit four teams of two players against each other to try and recreate iconic shots from NBA history: Ray Allen’s corner three, Reggie Miller’s right wing shot, Damian Lillard’s logo shot, Magic Johnson’s baby hook and Charles Barkley’s top-of-the-key shot.
Desmond Bane has been selected to team-up with Haliburton to compete in this challenge. Also competing will be Scottie Barnes/Chris Duarte, Josh Giddey/Evan Mobley and Michael Foster Jr./ Fanbo Zeng.
Duarte is injured and won’t compete in the game, so it’s likely he’ll need to be replaced in this game as well. Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga has been named his replacement for the game, so perhaps he’ll replace him in the contest as well.
Here are there rules, according to the NBA:
"Each team will compete with one shared ball and its players must alternate shots so no player shoots two times consecutively. Team 1 is given 1 minute and 30 seconds (1:30 counting down) to make a shot from each of the five locations in any order. Team 1’s time is then the marker for Team 2. If Team 1’s time is 1:15, then Team 2 will have a 1:15 countdown clock to complete the competition. Each team that establishes a new standard sets the clock for the next team competing, and the fastest finisher will win the Clorox Clutch Challenge."
It’s not immediately clear what the winner will get besides bragging rights.
You can watch Desmond Bane and the rest of the Rising Stars compete Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. CT on TNT.