DREXLER, MUTOMBO, OLAJUWON, TOMJANOVICH, AND YAO TO SERVE AS JUDGES FOR 2013 SPRITE® SLAM DUNK

Courtesy of NBA Media

- Rockets Legends Score Dunks in Team Round and Determine the

Finalists from Each Conference who will Compete for the Title –

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2013 – Clyde Drexler, Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon, Rudy Tomjanovich, and Yao Ming will serve as judges in the 2013 Sprite Slam Dunk (8pm ET, TNT), the NBA announced today.  The five Houston Rockets legends will score all of the dunks in the first round (the Team Round) of the event.

Drexler played 15 seasons for the Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, was a 10-time NBA All-Star, a two-time NBA Champion with the Rockets, enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2004, and was a member of the 1992 USA Basketball Dream Team.  Mutombo, who played the final five seasons of his 18-year career with the Rockets, was a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, an eight-time NBA All-Star, and currently serves as an NBA Global Ambassador.  Olajuwon is a two-time NBA Champion with the Rockets (1994 and 1995), a 12-time NBA All-Star, was named the 1993-94 NBA Most Valuable Player, and was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.  Tomjanovich played for the Rockets for 11 seasons while being named an NBA All-Star five times and coached the team for 12 seasons, including their back-to-back NBA Championships.  Yao was the number one overall pick for the Rockets in the 2002 NBA Draft and an eight-time NBA All-Star. 

The 2013 Sprite Slam Dunk will feature six dunkers competing in a two-round competition as part of State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, which will pit the Eastern Conference against the Western Conference in an exciting night of competition that will also raise money for charity.  The West features 2012 champion Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz along with the Los Angeles Clippers’ Eric Bledsoe and the Denver Nuggets’ Kenneth Faried.  Dunkers for the East include the Indiana Pacers’ Gerald Green, Toronto Raptors’ Terrence Ross, and New York Knicks’ James White.

The 2013 Sprite Slam Dunk contest will consist of the three Eastern Conference players competing against the three from the Western Conference in a two-round competition. The highest scoring East competitor and the highest scoring West competitor from the Team Round will compete head-to-head to determine the champion. Fan voting will open at the beginning of the Championship Round and the player with the highest percentage of combined votes from all platforms will be champion. (Complete rules for the 2013 Sprite Slam Dunk and State Farm All-Star Saturday Night attached).

This year fans will be able to cast votes for the champion in one of four ways:

1.) SMS Text Message* - Text the player’s last name to 38657 (DUNKS)

2.) Twitter - Tweet #SpriteSlam with the player’s last name

3.) Vote via the official NBA All-Star App (Available on iTunes, Google Play and at http://www.nba.com/allstarapp/)

4.) Log on to NBA.com from any computer or mobile device.

Since 2008, fans have determined the winner of the Sprite Slam Dunk through SMS TXT and voting on NBA.com

State Farm All-Star Saturday Night will also feature the Taco Bell Skills Challenge; the Sears Shooting Stars; and the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest. The NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 17, will air live on TNT, ESPN Radio and in 215 countries and will be broadcast in 47 languages.