Liberty Ballers’ All-Star Friday Night Reaction Thread

For the next three days, the City of Angels is the epicenter of the NBA universe as All-Star Weekend 2018 kicks off tonight in Los Angeles.

First up on today’s agenda is the All-Star Celebrity Game (presented by Ruffles!) filled with actors, former players, current WNBA stars, and some folks that I’ve never heard of in my life.

(For the record, Win Butler of Arcade Fire tries WAY too hard in these things - he’s like the new Arne Duncan.)

The clear highlight of tonight is the Rising Stars game which showcases some of the league’s best first- and second-year players. Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Dario Saric were all selected to the World Team and, according to Philly.com’s Keith Pompey, they’ve all been penciled into the starting lineup.

Moreover, Embiid plans to participate in tonight’s Rising Stars competition, tomorrow’s Skills Challenge, and Sunday night’s All-Star Game. Is “load management” a thing of the past?

The Sixers are off until next Thursday, so this is all we’ve got until then. Let’s have some fun in the comment section below...

Tonight’s Schedule (All times Eastern)

• 7:00 PM - NBA All-Star Celebrity Game (presented by Ruffles!) (ESPN)
• 9:00 PM - Mountain Dew Kickstart Rising Stars (TNT)