Domantas Sabonis can win the All-Star Skills Challenge

For the second year in a row, Domantas Sabonis will represent the Indiana Pacers during the Taco Bell All-Star Skills Challenge in addition to the All-Star Game. Sabonis participated in both events last year but was eliminated in the final round by Bam Adebayo.

With this year’s competition consisting of six players rather than eight, Domas has a better chance of walking away with the trophy this time around. The other participants include Luka Dončić, Robert Covington, Chris Paul, Julius Randle, and Nikola Vučević.

Will Domantas Sabonis win the Skills Challenge?

This year’s group features plenty of talent and Chris Paul is probably the favorite to win the event with Luka being a close second. But Domas is just as skilled for a big man and he proved that at last year’s rendition, knocking off the defending champion, Jayson Tatum.

We’ve seen Domas dominate for the Pacers this season in all phases of the offenses. He serves as a primary ball-handler and distributor, which has allowed him to show off his passing ability. That checks off one of the few boxes for this competition.

He has also taken more of a point-forward role this season, bringing the ball up the court and splitting that duty with Malcolm Brogdon. Boom, there’s two of the boxes checked off for the big man.

The real challenge of this even is the three-point shot at the end that essentially deems the winner. The winner is the first player to hit the final three-point shot, which is being attempted on the same basket. Luckily for Sabonis, he is shooting the ball at a much better rate and efficiency than he did last year.

In 2019-20, Sabonis attempted just 1.1 three-pointers per game and connected on just over 25 percent of those attempts. So far this season, he is hoisting up 2.8 attempts per game and has improved his percentage drastically, knocking down 35.2 percent of his threes.

Domas is one of the most well-rounded offensive big men in the NBA and that will play into his favor, which is why he has been brought back to this event.