Everyone’s favorite Pelicans fan, Chris Trew, and former NBA D-League player, Luke Bonner, recently crossed paths for the first time at One Eyed Jack’s in New Orleans. The two decided to follow up on this chance encounter with an email correspondence about NBA All-Star Weekend, which follows below.

Luke Bonner: All-Star weekend is almost here. What are you doing to prepare for the festivities?

Chris Trew: Luke, my man, I’m resting, stretching, and watching game tape of people networking to get prepared. I have thousands of new business cards and anything less than double my twitter followers after the weekend would a colossal failure. How about you? Where is your mind at as you set to descend upon the greatest sporting event city on the planet?

LB: No doubt, New Orleans is the greatest sporting event city on the planet. Being a New Hampshire resident, I’m part of the camp that thinks NBA All-Star weekend should be in New Orleans every year, no more of this cold climate stuff. I’ve been gearing up for the big weekend by preemptively reaching out to a few of my friends from NOLA for a variety of recommendations while I’m in town. My wife’s birthday is Friday, so I want to be sure to hook her up with the best King Cake in town. I’ve been told that I can’t go wrong with Randazzo’s. Anyway, what are you most looking forward to this weekend?

CT: I’m looking forward to being told I can’t get into the most exclusive parties with the highest level of security by at least 7 different access points. I’m looking forward to cornering Sway from MTV and getting him to pay me back for that cab ride we shared in 2013. I’m mostly looking forward to this huge comedy show on Friday night that I’m hosting that you have something to do with. Can you tell the people what the show is about? I hear it’s for a good cause.

LB: Yes! The Rock On Foundation and Bleacher Report All-Star Comedy Jam is going to be off the hook Friday night at The Howlin’ Wolf. Rock On Foundation is a nonprofit I started with my brother (Matt Bonner, San Antonio Spurs) to promote wellness and creativity through the arts and athletics. This will be our fourth year throwing a party during All-Star Weekend to raise money for Rock On. We’re super pumped to be partnering with Bleacher Report on this one, they’ve been amazing. Hannibal Buress, Michael Che and Joe Mande will be performing, and we’ll have DJs going throughout the night to keep the party going. It’s super cool to be able to convert a night of jokes and fun into things like public basketball court renovations, free youth summer basketball leagues in low-income neighborhoods and financial support for different community music and arts programs. Readers can but tickets here: http://bit.ly/brcomedyjam17.

Alright, any bold predictions for All-Star Weekend?

CT: I believe we covered that plug with grace and poise. Much like how the Western Conference, led by my best friend Anthony Davis, will cover the Easter Conference. I’m going all-in on the hometown hero grabbing the MVP of the game to go with his Skills Competition trophy, both of which he should carry with him at all times from this point on. The dunk contest will probably be really won by someone in the D-League because those guys always go hard. I plan on spending lengthy commercial breaks wishing there was a mascot half-court shot contest that I know my guy Pierre would dominate. It’s hard not to be biased.

To wrap this email exchange up, how off do you consider my predictions? What do you see happening?

LB: Good call on the “G-League” dunk contest. It’s always a treat. As far as predictions, here it goes, I have Win Butler repeating as Celebrity Game MVP. I played in a charity game with him in September, and he must have scored 30+ points. I’m going all in on Boogie Cousins representing the bigs and winning the Taco Bell Skills Competition. Damnit, now I want some Taco Bell. Kemba Walker is taking the JBL Three-Point Contest, and Aaron Gordon is winning the Verizon Dunk Contest. I also predict some quality native advertising throughout the festivities as well, looking forward to that. And, in terms of the actual All-Star Game, I think both teams are going to combine for more than 350 points this year. See you soon, NOLA.