NBA All-Star Weekend 2013: Kenneth Faried takes stage at dunk contest

The NBA schedule takes its annual break for All-Star festivities this weekend, and Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried will be featured in one of the highest-billed events: Saturday night's dunk contest.

Faried is one of six competitors in the dunk contest Saturday night and one of three representatives of the Western Conference. Los Angeles Clippers 6-1 guard Eric Bledsoe (the shortest player in the competition by five inches) and Utah Jazz forward Jeremy Evans (last year's winner) are the other Western Conference dunkers; Gerald Green, Terrence Ross and James White will represent the Eastern Conference.

Saturday's festivities kick off at 1 p.m. MT with the D-League All-Star Game, and then a short break before the Saturday night schedule begins at 6 p.m. MT from the Toyota Center in Houston and televised on TNT. The Shooting Stars competition kicks off the Saturday night portion, and immediately following it is the Skills Competition. San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, the contest's defending champion, takes on Houston's Jeremy Lin, Portland rookie Damian Lillard, Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague, second-year Detroit Pistons point guard Brandon Knight and Philadelphia's Jrue Holiday.

Just before the dunk contest is the three-point competition. Only one player returns from last year's competition—that's Orlando Magic forward Ryan Anderson. Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who many thought was the top snub from this year's All-Star Game, will have his shot at comeuppance for being left off Sunday's roster.

Faried takes the stage at the dunk contest in his second year out of Morehead State, and his dunking style is certainly more power than finesse—think Dwight Howard instead of, say, Muggsy Bogues.

The All-Star Game tips off Sunday at 6:30 p.m. MT. No Nuggets made the Western Conference team.