WITH the shelving of the slam-dunk competition, serving as the main highlight of the 2024 PBA All-Stars Skills Events is the three-point shootout.
The question is the readiness of Paul Lee to defend his crown and the desire and fire of the challengers to strip the king of his title.
An exciting addition in the PBA All-Star menu is the shootout among the bigs, including Jason Perkins, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, James Laput, Sean Anthony, JM Calma, Mo Tautuaa, Isaac Go, Keith Zaldivar, Ralph Cu, Christian David, Brandon Bates at Santi Santillan.
The skills events are set Saturday at the St. La Salle Gym in Bacolod, preceding the Blitz Game among the PBA rookies, sophomores and juniors.
Lee, the Magnolia combo guard, was the lead gun and biggest star in the 2023 All-Star festivities in Passi, Iloilo, winning the long distance three-point shootout then emerging as Most Valuable Player in the All-Star Game.
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And he's back to defend the crown, hoping for more in the Bacolod PBA midseason showpiece presented by Arena Plus.
But a formidable list of challengers will be there, raring to battle, including former two-time shootout champ and hometown favorite James Yap.
Maverick Ahanmisi, Alec Stockton, Chris Newsome, Rob Herndon, Arvin Tolentino, Ken Tuffin, Andrei Caracut, Marcio Lassiter, Javi Gomez de Liano and Calvin Oftana will also set out to chase glory and a place in PBA All-Star history.
Per regular game three-point shooting percentage, Lassiter is the man to watch with his remarkable 82-percent clip.
Next is Herdon (55 percent) then Lee (50 percent) and Stockton (50 percent), followed by De Liano (38 percent) and Tuffin (38 percent). The rest is shooting below 30 percent in the current PBA Philippine Cup.
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Last conference, Yap was at .714, Lassiter .451, Stockton .440, Oftana .416, Caracut .400, Lee .391, Herndon .387, De Liano .375, Ahanmisi .361, Tolentino .352, Tuffin .342 and Newsome .325.
But of course, the shootout is a different thing. (SB)
