SALT LAKE CITY — I was fortunate enough to be credentialed for the entire 2023 All-Star Weekend thanks to USA Today’s Sports Media Group.
I stayed in Salt Lake City, Utah, for roughly five days and was granted access to all of the events and media availabilities. I attended Friday’s Rising Stars contest, Saturday’s multiple events headlined by the Dunk Contest and Sunday’s All-Star game.
In terms of work, I was there mainly to focus on the three Oklahoma City Thunder representatives, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams. The former was making his first All-Star appearance. The latter two were participating in the Rising Stars challenge.
Being credentialed for All-Star weekend was one of my career highlights.
All-Star weekend celebrated the unofficial halfway mark of the regular season where only the best players in the league are invited. The fact that the Thunder had three representatives is a hugely positive sign of where the young core is going.
Because of that, I want to share my experience with the readers on what it was like covering the All-Star extravaganza from a first-hand perspective.
I have broken it down by days and am listing events in chronological order.