After flip-flopping between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu for their standalone All-Star Three-Point showdown, Kevin Durant delved further into All-Star festivities recently. The Phoenix Suns Forward gave his thoughts on who’d win the 2024 All-Star Three-Point and Slam Dunk Contests. On the eve of the All-Star Weekend, Durant was asked to name his picks. Apparently, KD believes that the reigning champions of both contests would be dethroned.
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For the dunk contest, Durant predicted, “I got Jacob Toppin.” He took Toppin over the reigning Slam Dunk champion, Mac McClung, whose next-level dunks mesmerized fans all over the world during the 2023 All-Star Dunk contest. Toppin, by contrast, will enter the competition for the first time this year. Like McClung, he is a G-League Star as well.
Meanwhile, for the three-point contest, Durant predicted, “I got Malik Beasley.” Thus he also believes that last year’s contest winner Damian Lillard isn’t going to repeat.
.@KDTrey5’s going with Toppin and Beasley
Who you got taking home the hardware at #StateFarmSaturday? pic.twitter.com/FrPCYVueDT
— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 17, 2024
Therefore, KD is going with the dark horses in both the competitions and his predictions will make the contests even more spicy. Both of his choices are participating in their respective competitions for the first time.
But perhaps there is one All-Star competition that has dominated the narrative more than any other event. It is the Three-Point Showdown between NBA’s Stephen Curry and WNBA’s Sabrina Ionescu. In the wake of this first-of-a-kind NBAxWNBA three-point contest, Durant has had his fair share of fun. KD does believe that his former teammate Stephen Curry will take the W, but he has been teasing fans throughout the process.
Kevin Durant deploys dry humor
Initially, when NBA reporter Leigh Ellis asked Durant who he’d select for the three-point contest, KD replied, “I’m going Steph. Sorry Sabrina, you can shoot, but not against the greatest.” This reply looked earnest and it was clear Curry is Durant’s go-to-choice for the contest. However, he hilariously changed his position when he learned what Curry had to say when Ellis asked him to predict who his former teammate chose. Curry had stated, “Knowing him, he’s an instigator. I’m sure he picked her.”
When KD learned what Curry had said, he changed his position. He quipped, “I can’t believe u would call me an instigator, Stephen. I’m taking Sabrina [Ionescu]”. But that was not the end of it. When asked about his pick again a few days later, KD had fun at his own expense. He went back to Chef Curry, “I’m going Steph. I said Steph first, then Steph kind of like disrespected me, calling me an instigator so I went Sabrina. But I’ll go back to Steph. You know how I like to switch.”
In the end, it is clear that Durant is backing the All-Time Three-Point Leader. At any rate, it will be fun to see how Sabrina and Steph respond to each other in the wake of such a high-profile buildup.
