They didn’t need practice, they didn’t need too much strategy — if we’re being completely honest, they didn’t put much thought at all into the task ahead of them. Still, the Utah Jazz’s Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton teamed up on Saturday night and came away as the Kia Skills Challenge champions.
Playing against Team Antetokounmpo and Team Rooks, the Jazz trio weren’t able to score any points in the opening round of the competition (an obstacle course relay race that included passing shooting and dribbling) but they made up for it by winning the next two rounds — passing and shooting competitions.
“Work smarter, not harder,” Clarkson said with a laugh. “Let’s go the easy route — we know we can pass, we know we can shoot the ball.”
Team Antetokounmpo included the Milwaukee Bucks’ Jrue Holiday and Thanasis Antetokounmpo along with Alex Antetokounmpo of the NBA G League’s Wisconsin Herd. Holiday competed in place of an injured Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was on hand coaching his team along.
Team Rooks was made up of rookies Paolo Banchero from the Orlando Magic, Jaden Ivey of the Detroit Pistons and Jabari Smith Jr. from the Houston Rockets, who was a teammate of Kessler’s at Auburn.
Kessler said that he’d be calling, FaceTiming, or maybe even going to Smith’s hotel in order to rub in the win later and show off his Skills Challenge trophy.
“Come on rook!” Kessler yelled across a press conference room at Smith. “Oh wait, I’m a rookie too.”
The Jazz went into the final competition tied with the Team Antetokounmpo. With five marked spots on the court each player would need to shoot at least once and couldn’t shoot from the same spot consecutively. Each spot was worth a number of points from 1 to 5.
The Jazz seemed to be the only team that had figured out a plan for one player rebounding and others shooting.
“Because I came up with the strategy,” Kessler said, as his teammates gave him credit for the small amount of thought put into the competition.
“Walk definitely came up with the strategy, and it worked. It definitely worked, and we give him credit,” Sexton said. “This might be the last credit we ever give you.”
After missing a 3-pointer in the Rising Stars tournament on Friday, Kessler was vindicated when it was his corner 3-pointer that put the game away, giving Team Jazz a higher score than Team Antetokounmpo.
Jazz head coach Will Hardy and his wife Spencer were watching from the baseline with Jazz owner Ryan Smith as the Jazz trio hoisted their trophies into the air.
Asked if he would be taking 3-pointers in real games and becoming a stretch-5, Kessler made sure that it was on record, he was going to continue doing what Hardy asked of him.
“Um, I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing and stay on the court,” he said.