Current Utah Jazz guard and former Ohio State Buckeye Mike Conley will be one of eight players that are part of the first ever NBA H-O-R-S-E Challenge.
Conley is joined by NBA stars Zach Lavine, Chris Paul and Trae Young, retired players Paul Pierce and Chauncey Billups, as well as newly named hall of famer Tamika Catchings and WNBA star Allie Quigley.
The eight players are separated into two groups of four, and within those groups will be a pair of head-to-head matchups. The winners of those matchups play each other within the group before playing the winner in the opposing group in the championship game.
Conley is going up against Catchings, whose hall-of-fame résumé includes eight seasons on the First-Team All-WNBA roster, 10 all-star nominations, five defensive player of the year victories and a 2011 MVP. She has 1,074 career steals, the most in WNBA history, while also finishing third all time with 7,380 total points.
On the other side, Conley was in his 13th NBA season and first with the Jazz. He averaged 13.8 points and 4.3 assists per game in 41 games with Utah while shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from three.
The opening games will all take place on April 12 from 7-9 p.m., with the semifinals and championship game happening on April 16 from 7-9 p.m.
ESPN will be televising the entirety of the H-O-R-S-E tournament, in which, “a coin toss at the start of each game will determine who shoots first, with the more senior player calling heads or tails. Players must describe each shot attempt, specifying the type of score they intend to make before taking a shot, such as a bank shot or swish. Dunking is prohibited. The first player in each game to accumulate the letters “H-O-R-S-E” after failing to match five shots is eliminated,” according to the press release.
The release also said that State Farm “will be donating more than $200,000 on behalf of the participants to charities focused on coronavirus response efforts.” The event will take place “from their respective, isolated home courts.”
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