Welcome to February Daily Topics at Golden State of Mind. A question (almost) every day this month to give the community a prompt to talk about!
The All-Star break is mercifully here. The Golden State Warriors limped to the break — both literally and figuratively — with a team in dire need of a rest and a reset. They’re in eighth place in the Western Conference and very comfortably in a play-in spot, but they’re just 4-7 since Jimmy Butler III suffered a season-ending ACL injury. Steph Curry hasn’t played in a while, and Kristaps Porziņģis has yet to play for the team following a deadline-deal trade.
So the All-Star break — and the week off from playing basketball — is certainly well timed for a Warriors squad that hopes to get Curry and Porziņģis back for Thursday’s return to action against the Boston Celtics.
In the meantime, we get non-Warriors basketball, in the form of the All-Star Game, and all the All-Star festivities.
The Warriors, however, won’t be partaking in the fun.
Golden State has no participants in Friday’s Castrol Rising Stars game, as neither Quinten Post nor Will Richard were selected for the annual rookie-sophomore showdown. Despite being the team that everyone associates with shooting (and for good reason), the Warriors won’t have a representative at Saturday’s State Farm 3-Point Contest, which features the surprising inclusion of Oakland’s own Damian Lillard. They also won’t have a player at the return of the Kia Shooting Stars competition, though former Warrior Corey Maggette will be coming out of retirement for the event. They won’t be included in Saturday’s concluding event, the AT&T Slam Dunk contest, though the mostly no-name field is highlighted, in my eyes at least, by Jace Richardson, the son of a Warriors legend.
And they won’t even have a player on Sunday, as Curry was selected to his 12th All-Star Game (as a starter, no less), but will miss the exhibition while he rehabs his runner’s knee and gears up for a stretch run.
So when it comes to Warriors this weekend, we’re stuck with memories and old highlights. Which got me thinking … what is your favorite Warriors All-Star weekend?
Mine is easy: watching the aforementioned father of Jace, Jason Richardson, who is, in my eyes, the most underrated dunker in basketball history. And what the hell, let’s relive those sensational contests.
Oh yeah. That’s the good stuff.
What are your favorite Warriors All-Star memories?