2021 TACO BELL NBA SKILLS CHALLENGE RULES

NBA All-Stars Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks and Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns will display their vast array of talents in the 2021 Taco Bell® Skills Challenge on Sunday, March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The Taco Bell® Skills Challenge will take place before the 2021 NBA All-Star Game, airing on TNT.

Joining Dončić and Paul as 2021 NBA All-Stars in the field are New York Knicks forward Julius Randle, Indiana Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis and Orlando Magic center Nikola Vučević. The six-player competition also features Portland Trail Blazers forward Robert Covington.

The 19th Taco Bell® Skills Challenge is an obstacle-course competition that tests players’ dribbling, passing, agility and 3-point shooting skills. The event is part of NBA All-Star 2021, which will take place on one night. TNT’s NBA All-Star coverage on March 7 will begin at 5 p.m. ET with TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax, followed by the Taco Bell® Skills Challenge and MTN DEW® 3-Point Contest starting at 6:30 p.m. ET. NBA All-Star Game coverage will begin at 8 p.m. ET, with AT&T Slam Dunk taking place at halftime.

Dončić, who was named an NBA All-Star Game starter for the second year in a row, joins Sabonis (the 2020 runner-up) and Vučević as second-time participants in the Taco Bell® Skills Challenge. Paul, an NBA All-Star selection for the 11th time, will make his record fifth appearance in the Taco Bell® Skills Challenge and his first since 2011. Randle and Covington will make their event debuts.

Covington is in his eighth NBA season after not being selected in the 2013 NBA Draft. In the 2017-18 season, he was selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team and ranked 11th in the league in 3-pointers made (203). Covington attended Tennessee State, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Nashville, Tenn. As part of NBA All-Star 2021, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association will commit more than $2.5 million in funds and resources toward HBCUs and support and awareness around equity and access to COVID-19 care, relief and vaccines. On March 7, the league will also pay tribute to the vital role of HBCUs through music, content and storytelling.

The Taco Bell® Skills Challenge is a three-round competition with a single-elimination tournament format. Two players will compete simultaneously on an identical course and the winner of each head-to-head matchup will advance to the next round. Two of the six participants, as chosen by the NBA, will receive a bye in the first round and automatically advance to the second round. First-round matchups will be announced at a later date.

Below are the participants for the 2021 Taco Bell® Skills Challenge and a list of previous winners.

2021 TACO BELL^® SKILLS CHALLENGE PARTICIPANTS

Player	Team	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.
Robert Covington	Portland Trail Blazers	F	6-7	209
Luka Dončić	Dallas Mavericks	G	6-7	230
Chris Paul	Phoenix Suns	G	6-0	175
Julius Randle	New York Knicks	F	6-9	254
Domantas Sabonis	Indiana Pacers	F	6-11	240
Nikola Vučević	Orlando Magic	C	6-11	260

2021 Taco Bell Skills Challenge

A field of 6 players competes head-to-head in a 3-round obstacle
course competition that tests dribbling, passing, agility and
shooting skills.

COMPETITION RULES *(See corresponding “Flow of Play”)
▪ Two players compete simultaneously on an identical course with the winner of each head-to-head matchup advancing to the next round.

▪ BALL HANDLING – players must observe basic NBA ball-handling rules while completing the course.
▪ PASSING – the passing challenge is considered complete (player can move on) when he either (1) successfully passes a ball through the target or (2) exhausts the rack of balls while attempting to complete the pass.
▪ LAYUP/DUNK – the players rebound their own ball until the basket is made.
▪ FINAL 3PT SHOT – the players must continue shooting the 3-point shot from any location on or behind his designated shooting spot until the course-ending three-pointer is made. The first player to do so wins the head-to-head matchup and advances.
▪ DISQUALIFICATION – players are subject to disqualification at the final discretion/judgment of the referee for (1) failure to complete all the challenges or (2) deliberately interfering with his opponent or his opponent’s ball.
▪ INSTANT REPLAY – at the referee’s discretion, instant replay may be utilized for clarification of rules compliance

ADVANCEMENT
▪ In each head-to-head competition, the player successfully completing the course first shall be deemed the winner of that matchup and advance to the next round.
▪ 2 players, determined by the NBA will receive a bye in the First Round and automatically advance to the Second Round.

FIRST ROUND
▪ Each of the two head-to-head winners will advance to the Second Round.
SECOND ROUND
▪ The two Second Round winners will advance to the Final Round.
FINAL ROUND
▪ The Second-Round winners will compete head-to-head to determine the Skills Challenge
champion.
TIEBREAKERS
• In the event of a tie in any head-to-head competition, the tied players shall repeat the course

2021 Taco Bell Skills Challenge Flow of Play

1) START – On music cue, each player picks up his first ball from a pedestal and dribbles from the baseline to:
2) CROSSOVER DRIBBLE – Starting around the 1st pylon to the outside (toward sideline), then around the 2nd pylon to the inside (center court), the 3rd pylon to the outside, 4th pylon to the inside, then finally the 5th pylon to the outside, continuing his dribble until he approaches:
3) CHEST PASS – Using the ball in his hand from the crossover dribble section, he attempts to complete the chest pass. If the first attempt is made, he moves on. If not, he must attempt to complete the chest pass using the two additional balls on the corresponding ball rack until either
(1) a pass is made or (2) all the balls are exhausted (one ball at a time/towards the target) – at which point he moves on to:
4) NEW BALL/SPEED DRIBBLE – He picks up a new ball from a pedestal on the baseline and dribbles the length of the court back to:
5) LAYUP/DUNK – He must complete a layup/dunk and rebound his own shot.
NOTE: He must rebound the same ball if he misses and once the shot is made he will retrieve the same ball, and proceed to the opposite end of the court to:
6) FINAL 3PT SHOT – Using the ball in his hand from his layup/dunk, the player will finish the competition by completing a 3-point shot from any location on or behind his designated shooting spot. Additional balls will be placed in a barrel beside the designated shooting spot. The first
player to complete a 3-point shot wins the head-to-head matchup and advances.
NOTE: All shots must be taken one ball at a time/towards the basket.

DISQUALIFICATION RULE – Players are subject to disqualification at the final discretion/judgment of the referee for (1) failure to complete all of the challenges or (2) deliberately interfering with his opponent or his opponent’s ball.