MIAMI, February 7 – The Miami HEAT announced today that All-Star guard Dwyane Wade will participate in the 2006 PlayStation Skills Challenge. Wade will compete against defending champion Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chris Paul of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. The event will be held on NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by AOL, February 18, at the Toyota Center in Houston.

Having debuted during NBA All-Star 2003 in Atlanta, the fast-paced event features four players competing in a two-round timed “obstacle course” consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting stations. All players must observe basic NBA ball-handling rules while completing the course. The two players with the fastest times from the first round advance to the finals with the order of competition determined by inverse order of the first round times.

Wade, starter for the 2006 Eastern Conference All-Star Team, is averaging 27.0 points, 6.9 assists, 5.9 rebounds and 2.0 steals. Nash, a four-time All-Star, currently leads the league in assists with 11.1 per game. James, the youngest player in NBA history to reach 5,000 career points (21 years, 22 days on Jan. 21, 2006) is averaging 30.9 points, 6.5 assists and 6.9 rebounds. Paul, a three-time 2005-06 T-Mobile Western Conference Rookie of the Month leads all rookies in most categories, including points (16.3 ppg), assists (7.8 apg) and steals (2.2 spg).

The PlayStation Skills Challenge will be televised live nationally as part of the NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by AOL, which will also feature the Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout, Sprite Rising Stars Slam Dunk and RadioShack Shooting Stars. TNT and ESPN Radio’s national coverage will begin at 8 p.m. EST from the Toyota Center. The NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 19, will air live on TNT, Rogers Sportsnet and ESPN Radio at 8 p.m. EST. The game will also be telecast in 215 countries and broadcast in audio in several languages on NBA.com.