We have reached that point of the season. All-Star Weekend. We know who is participating and what the teams are. But now it's time to take a reflection to the past and look at five of the greatest All-Star Weekends of all time.

5. 2001 All-Star Weekend

Let’s take it back to 2001 to start this list. A weekend spent in the nation’s capital of Washington D.C. headlined by talent such as Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan.

Starting it off with the three-point contest was Western Conference All-Star Ray Allen taking it home for the Milwaukee Bucks by defeating Peja Stojakovic and Dirk Nowitzki in the finals.

But the three-point contest didn’t make this iteration great, that came to the main event.

To talk about this game the first name to think about is Allen Iverson, who would take home MVP honors after leading an audacious 4th quarter comeback down 95-74 with 9 minutes left to win 111-110 with assistance from two clutch Stephon Marbury threes with under a minute to go to with the game.

This close game highlighted all of the great in the 50th-ever NBA All-Star Game and continued to further the brand of the NBA.

4. 1987 All-Star Weekend

Next up in All-Star game history, we have the 1987 All-Star game in Seattle, Washington. One of the most star-studded All-Star games of all time.

For the East, Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Moses Malone and Dominique Wilkins as the starting five. For the West, Magic Johnson, Alvin Robertson, James Worthy, Tom Chambers and Hakeem Olajuwon.

This game was a gritty affair just like the style of the players, everyone providing hounding defense with intense offensive action.

The West was down by seven points going into the 4th quarter and they made up that difference as time expired with Rolando Blackman providing some heroic free throws to force OT in an All-Star game.

The West would win in overtime 154-149 with the hometown hero, Supersonics Tom Chambers winning MVP by scoring 34 points and snaring four steals.

3. 1997 All-Star Weekend

Ten years into the future now, in 1997 at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio there was an all-around affair.

Kobe Bryant won the dunk contest over Chris Carr and Michael Finley, then in the Rookie Challenge, Kobe scored 31 points but would lose as Allen Iverson claimed Rookie Challenge MVP with 19 points and nine assists on an efficient 7-11 from the field.

The All-Star game was in commemoration of the 50th year of the NBA and as such they had a halftime show honoring the “50 Greatest Players in NBA History” with all in attendance but 3, Pete Maravich who passed away in 1988, Shaquille O’Neal who was selected as an All-Star but was dealing with knee issues and Jerry West who was getting surgery on his ear.

Nonetheless, the All-Star game was electrifying with Jordan and Pippen leading with East with Penny Hardaway against Olajuwon, John Stockton and Shawn Kemp led West.

The East would go on to claim victory as an explosive 40-point third quarter would allow them to win 132-120.

2. 2016 All-Star Weekend

The first on this list in recent memory in the 2016 weekend, one of the most entertaining of all time in Toronto, Canada.

The Rising Stars started off the weekend correctly with Team USA beating the World by just three points, 157-154, with 30-point performances from Zach Lavine, Kristaps Porzingis and Emmanuel Mudiay.

The three-point contest was a battle of the brothers, the Splash Brothers that is, as Klay Thompson would hit four more threes than Steph Curry in the final to claim victory.

The most memorable part of this weekend was the dunk contest though, as in maybe the greatest dunk contest of all time Zach Lavine defeated Aaron Gordon to become a back-to-back slam dunk champion.

In the All-Star game, in Kobe’s farewell the West would win dominantly 196-173 as Russell Westbrook put up 31 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals on his way to All-Star game MVP.

1. 2020 All-Star Weekend

To top our list is the most recent of the bunch, despite the lack of effort in All-Star games 2020 was different as tragedy struck the world as Kobe and Gianna Bryant would pass away due to a helicopter crash in Calabasas, CA. This All-Star game was a testament to the man Kobe was.

The rising stars was an absolute show as future stars, Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Zion Williamson would provide some of the most impressive dunks, shots and passes as Team USA would win by 20, 151-131, but the score did not matter as the arena was in a constant state of awe.

The game was a whole different show though, the quarter became like their own game as each quarter, whichever team came out on top the winner would have 100,000 dollars donated to their children’s charity, which was sitting behind the basket, allowing the atmosphere to be especially excited.

Both teams would wear numbers in remembrance of Kobe and Gigi, Team Lebron wearing #2 for Gigi and Team Giannis wearing #24 for Kobe.

Another change was in the 4th quarter, rather than playing a full quarter, there was a target score, whoever was leading would need 24 points to win.

This meant that Team Giannis, leading 133-124, had set the target score at 157. Anthony Davis would win the game for Team Lebron with a free throw to hit the target score and win 157-155 in an intense back-and-forth 4th quarter.

These All-Star Weekends were great, and we hope to have plenty more to add to this list in the future, but for now, we will just have to tune in this weekend to see what this iteration has in store.

Massimo Manfra is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mgm6116@psu.edu.