History

Inspired by major league baseball's annual mid-season All-Star Game, league public relations director Haskell Cohen proposed that the NBA should stage a similar game.

The league's president, Maurice Podoloff, agreed, and Boston Celtics owner Walter Brown offered the use of Boston Garden at no charge.

The first game was played in Boston on March 2, 1951. It drew 10,094 fans.

In 1984, a slam-dunk competition was added the day before the game and a three-point shooting competition was added in 1986.

The skills challenge, added in 2003, is a timed event in which a player has to dribble through an obstacle course with passing and shooting stations.

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