The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced that three Nigerian superstars will headline the 2023 NBA All-Star Game halftime show with an Afrobeats-themed performance.
They are grammy award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer Burna Boy, 2023 grammy award-winning singer and Oscar-nominated singer and producer Tems and rapper and singer Rema.
After the performance, the NBA family will honour LeBron James for becoming the league’s all-time scoring leader.
The 72nd NBA All-Star Game will tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET (3:30 a.m. CAT) at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City and air on beIN Sports, Canal+ and ESPN across the continent.
Prior to tip-off, global superstar Post Malone will perform a medley of hits following the first-ever in-arena NBA All-Star Draft (7:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 a.m. CAT), and Vin Diesel, star of the upcoming “Fast X” movie, will welcome fans to the evening.
Payson, Utah, native and GRAMMY Award-nominated artist Jewel will sing the U.S. national anthem and Juno Award-winning and platinum-selling artist Jully Black will sing the Canadian national anthem on Sunday for the NBA All-Star Game.
Utah singing group The Bonner Family will perform the U.S. national anthem before the 2023 Jordan Rising Stars, which will be played on Friday, Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. ET (4 a.m. CAT) on beIN Sports, Canal+ and ESPN.
As previously announced, the group will also perform the U.S. national anthem and the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice,” at the NBA HBCU Classic presented by AT&T, which will tip off on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 4 p.m. ET on TNT, ESPN2 and NBA TV.
In previous years, the NBA has reeled in a bevy of musical talents to play at its celebrity game, including J. Cole, Jack Harlow, Common and Quavo. The Migos frontman dazzled in both of his appearances. In 2018, he scored 19 points and won the MVP award. The following year, he had a game-high of 27 points.
