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The 2013 NBA Slam Dunk Contest again fails to feature the big names like LeBron James and Kevin Durant, but the field that will compete on Feb. 16 in Houston has resumes impressive in the art of high-flying jams. Here is everything you need to know about Saturday's marquee event.
The basics
Time: Likely around 9:30-10 p.m. EST as the final event of All-Star Saturday night, which begins at 8:30 EST.
Order of events: The All-Star Saturday night events begins with the Shooting Stars event and is followed, in order, by the Skills Challenge, Three-Point Shootout and then the Slam Dunk Contest.
TV: TNT
Format and voting instructions: Check out NBA.com for a more detailed explanation of the contest's rules and how to vote via text or social media.
The participants
East: Pure athleticism is the theme for the Eastern Conference team. New York Knicks reserve James "Flight" White had much backing in the underground of basketball culture considering his great success in dunk competitors since he left high school. He apparently already has his dunks picked out, and all of them will net him perfect scores, he said.
But it wouldn't be surprising if White gets a challenge in the first round. Gerald Green returns to the event as an Indiana Pacer after giving fans quite the show in two previous appearances in 2007 and 2008. Green competed as a member of the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves.
The darkhorse in the event could be Toronto Raptors rookie Terrence Ross, who gained attention thanks to a powerful social media backing from his team.
West: The West team consists of rangy forward Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz, the reigning Slam Dunk champion.
He is joined by Los Angeles Clippers' Eric Bledsoe, who has the advantage of being the smallest player in the group of six participants. That role has worked well for Nate Robinson, who won three dunk contests as an undersized point guard going back to 2006.
The Denver Nuggets' Kenneth Faried -- more known for his rebounding -- fills out the list of participants.
How it works
The finale to All-Star Saturday night will consist of two rounds of dunking and six participants in a new format.
The first round will pit three Western Conference dunkers against one another and three Eastern Conference dunkers against each other to be voted upon by a panel on a scale of six to 10. Each player will get two dunks apiece, and the player with the highest score on each conference team will move on to the championship round.
One winner from each group will then meet in the second round, where fan voting will dictate the final outcome based on percentage.
Recent history
Last season, Evans won the event in the first year of fan polling. He slipped into the victory by earning 29 percent of fan support, one percentage point more than then-Rockets guard Chase Budinger. Indiana Pacers swingman Paul George was in contact at 24 percent, while last-place Minnesota Timberwolves forward Derrick Williams received 19 percent of the vote.