All-Star Saturday takeaways: Joel ‘Troel’ Embiid returns, Damian Lillard repeats, and more

All-Star Saturday, the crown jewel of the NBA’s midseason celebration, didn’t disappoint.

Tyrese Maxey added flair to the Skills Challenge but came up short, while Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard and former Sixer Mac McClung, currently of the G League’s Osceola Magic, repeated in signature events. And we got extra basketball when the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry defeated New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu.

Here are four takeaways from the night:

Maxey had a few fun moments in the Skills Challenge, especially when he was paired with Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes and they appeared destined to recreate their epic flub from the 2022 Rising Stars Challenge. But beyond that, the event was far too long and far too confusing. That said, it was nice to watch the hometown Pacers — comprised of Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, and Myles Turner — win the event in front of an electric crowd.

» READ MORE: Tyrese Maxey sinks halfcourt shot, but his team loses Skills Challenge at All-Star Saturday Night

Maybe Lillard has something to prove. Usually a sure shot, his three-point percentage fell off a cliff the past two months. He shot only 27.8% from three in January and was similarly choppy in February, heading into All-Star break fresh off a 3-for-13 clunker as his Milwaukee Bucks suffered an embarrassing 113-110 loss to an undermanned Memphis Grizzlies team. But all was good on Saturday, as he edged out the Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young on his final shot. He became the seventh player to win consecutive three-point contests.

But with new players. Curry vs. Ionescu was fun and felt like an event worth adding to the All-Star Weekend docket. That said, it’ll need some new blood to continue. While the event will move out west for 2025, my vote would be for a Midwest showdown. Pit Lillard against Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark — who mock drafts predict will join the Indiana Fever with the No. 1 pick. If you want to place the event on autopilot, simply pick the NBA and WNBA winners from their respective 2024 events, get them on the court next year, and repeat the process each year.

While he couldn’t match his 2023 mojo, McClung was better than any NBA player in the dunk contest for a second straight year. This time he competed against the Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, who managed to get several high scores that did not match the quality of his dunks. While it appeared that the judges would take it from him this year, McClung fended Brown and landed a repeat win with two dunks over NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal. The biggest moment of the night came away from the court, though, when Joel Embiid took to Twitter to declare that he could win the contest.