Utah Jazz: Ranking the team’s best-ever All-Star Weekend moments

CLEVELAND - FEBRUARY 9: Karl Malone #32 and John Stockton #12 of the Utah Jazz stand for the National Anthem during the 1997 NBA All-Star Game played on February 9, 1997 at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Copyright 1997 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
CLEVELAND - FEBRUARY 9: Karl Malone #32 and John Stockton #12 of the Utah Jazz stand for the National Anthem during the 1997 NBA All-Star Game played on February 9, 1997 at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Copyright 1997 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Utah Jazz Donovan Mitchell 2018 Slam Dunk Contest
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 17: Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz (C) accepts the trophy for the 2018 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest at Staples Center on February 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /

2) Donovan Mitchell’s Coming-Out Party; February 17, 2018

By the time NBA All-Star 2018 rolled around, people in Utah already had a good idea that this Donovan Mitchell kid was pretty darn good. That year’s Slam Dunk Contest was the moment that the rest of the basketball world realized Mitchell was a star in the making.

Not just on the court, but as a personality and a presence in the sport.

The Rookie of the Year runner-up was second to none on that All-Star Saturday. During the course of the Dunk Contest, he bounced the ball off a second backboard for a jam, dunked over his sister, Jordan, and Kevin Hart, while sporting Darrell Griffith throwback duds, powered down a tomahawk jam off a backboard oop that was poetry in motion and wrapped things up with a tribute to Vince Carter’s legendary reverse 360.

Along the way, he illicited multiple perfect 50s from the judges and registered one of the more complete Dunk Contest performances you’ll see.