The NBA All-Star Weekend's Most Infamous, Shocking Scandals

The National Basketball Association's brightest stars, a myriad of celebrities, avid fans and party-goers will gather in Dallas from February 12th to February 14th for the 2010 All-Star Weekend festivities. Expect this year's spectacle at colossal Cowboys Stadium to reach unprecedented proportion. Past All-Star Weekends produced countless memorable 3-Point Competition, Slam Dunk Contest, and All-Star Game moments, but the events remain mired in controversy on and off the court. Let us now relive the NBA's most infamous and shocking scandals to date.

1. Dunk Contest Controversy: The lack of stardom repeatedly renders the Dunk Contest a watered-down competition, producing lackluster winners Harold Miner (twice), Gerald Green, Brent Barry and Fred Jones. The 2010 edition delivers a similarly disappointing field, consisting of Nate Robinson, Shannon Brown, Gerald Wallace, and the winner of Friday's pre-Dunk Contest dunk-off between Eric Gordon and Demar Derozan.

2. 1999 Pleads No Contest: Commissioner David Stern cancels the 1999 NBA All-Star Weekend events scheduled in Philadelphia as a result of a bitter league lockout.

3. Making It Rain: The most infamous scandals, including 403 related arrests, occur during the wild Weekend in Vegas in 2007. After exiled NFL enigma, Pacman Jones "makes it rain," a fight between strippers ensues. The fight escalates to a strip club shooting, leaving a club bouncer paralyzed.Ultimately,the Titans' 6th overall pick in 2005 "arraigned" a path right out of the NFL.

4. Sacramento Scandal: Racy photos of Sacramento Kings' dancers surface amidst the 2008 All-Star Weekend.

5. Chris Brown Not Welcome: In 2009, Brown backs out of a scheduled singing performance, in light of a violent attack on singer Rihanna. Brown allegedly hit and bit the former girlfriend.

6. Artificial Intelligence: Voters select the aging enigma Allen Iverson to start in the All-Star game in 2010, despite Iverson's unimpressive 14.4 points per game average in merely 25 games this season. Consequently, Iverson withdraws from the game, due to family issues. In a related story of frustrating fan behavior, voters nearly select Tracy McGrady to start for the Western Conference squad. The 7-time All-Star swingman saw action in only 7 of the Rockets' first-half contests, yet narrowly missed All-Star inclusion.

Referenced Links
"1999 NBA Lockout Season. No All Star.," www.allstarnba.es/1999.htm.
Access Hollywood. "Chris Brown Backs out of NBA All-Star Weekend," www.accesshollywood.com/shaquille-oneal/chris-brown-backs-out-of-nba-all-star-weekend_article_13815.
Hart, Josh. "Sacramento Kings Dancers Photo Scandals: Stripping Down NBA All-Star Weekend," www.nationalledger.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=22&num=18944.
Maimon, Alan. "A Bad Night at the Minx during NBA Weekend,"www.lvrj.com/news/50575402.html.
Spillman, Benjamin. "Event an All-Star Gain or Pain," www.casinocitytimes.com/news/article/event-an-all-star-gain-or-pain-164296.
Tatum, Kevin. "Iverson Thanks Fans for their Votes," www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/82341832.html.
All player stats and results referenced from NBA.com on February 12, 2010.