Players on the Utah Jazz have consistently showed up when asked to participate in All-Star Weekend festivities. They’ve won every notable Saturday night event, with multiple victories over the years.
As All-Star Weekend 2020 begins in Chicago later this week, players around the league, including Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz, are preparing for an exciting couple of nights of basketball.
Competitions and challenges will scatter the United Center, with champions crowned along the way.
Here’s a look back through Utah Jazz history, commemorating the winners of past All-Star Weekend contests.
Skills Challenge 2008 – Deron Williams
On a Saturday night in New Orleans, first-time participant Deron Williams faced former Skills Challenge champions Dwayne Wade and Jason Kidd, and host-town-hero Chris Paul. The event’s format split the four players into two groups of two, who then raced, with the winners facing one another.
After handling Jason Kidd by a comfortable margin, Williams faced fellow 2005 draft-mate Paul. Williams went first, posting a still-record time of 25.5 seconds–he didn’t miss a single shot or pass: he had a perfect run. Paul would complete the course in 31.2 seconds, giving Williams the title of Skills Challenge champion.
Skills Challenge 2014 – Trey Burke
All-Star Weekend returned to the Big Easy in 2014, but introduced a twist in the Skills Challenge. This year, the Skills Challenge would incorporate two-player relay teams — two from each conference — that would run the course as a duo, with one player completing the course, then passing the ball to their teammate to do the same.
The victorious team ended up being Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers and Trey Burke of the Utah Jazz, besting the East’s Michael Carter-Williams and Victor Oladipo with a Trey Burke layup, winning by just one millisecond.