Dwight Howard and Kevin Durant Go Head-to-Head Coaching the 2012 Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game

– Hollywood All-Stars Team Up with NBA and WNBA Players and Legends for the Game on ESPN Friday, Feb. 24 –

– Vinny from MTV’s Jersey Shore Tweets His Way Into the Game –

NEW YORK & ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Sprint (NYSE: S) announced the official lineup of the 2012 Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, which is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 24, during NBA All-Star Jam Session at the Orange County Convention Center. For the eighth straight year, ESPN will televise the game beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

This year’s players include celebrities from film, TV and music and will feature Grammy ® Award-winner Ne-Yo (R&B/pop); 2012 Grammy® nominee J. Cole (Rapper), Common (Just Wright); JB Smoove (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”); Vinny Guadagnino (“Jersey Shore”); Kevin Hart (Laugh At My Pain); Javier Colon (“The Voice”); Drew and Jonathan Scott (“Property Brothers”); Jesse Williams (“Grey's Anatomy”); NBA legends Mitch Richmond (six-time NBA All-Star), Penny Hardaway (four-time NBA All-Star) and Nick Anderson; 2011 WNBA MVP Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever); and Doug Gottlieb (ESPN, “The Doug Gottlieb Show”). Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant, 2012 NBA All-Stars, will serve as the East and West team coaches, respectively.

In an All-Star Celebrity Game first, Guadagnino, who plays basketball regularly, rallied his more than 2.7 million Twitter followers who started a social media campaign to convince the NBA and Sprint to add him to the roster.

In addition to serving as the title partner of the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, Sprint will also be the title partner of the NBA All-Star Pregame Concert, held before the NBA All-Star Game, an associate partner of NBA All-Star Jam Session, and the presenting partner of the NBA All-Star E-Recycling event, an electronic waste collection and recycling event.

Right Guard®, the official deodorant and body wash of the NBA, is the associate partner of the Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, and as part of its partnership it will have a presence in media programming and in-arena promotions during the game.

All purchased tickets for the Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game include admission to Jam Session on Friday, Feb. 24, where fans of all ages can shoot and slam surrounded by wall-to-wall All-Star basketball action, meet and collect free autographs from NBA All-Stars, score game-changing tips from NBA players and legends, and much more.

The game rosters are subject to change without notice. Visit www.NBA.com/jamsession for more information.

**A $20 TICKET (STANDARD PRICE OF ADMISSION) TO JAM SESSION ON FRIDAY, FEB. 24, DOES NOT INCLUDE ADMISSION TO THE CELEBRITY GAME.**

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 55 million customers at the end of 2011 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

About Right Guard®

RIGHT GUARD® has been a high performance antiperspirant and deodorant brand since its launch in 1961 and is currently depended on by millions of people worldwide for providing unbeatable odor and wetness protection. Henkel of North America purchased the brand in 2006 and is continuing the tradition of quality, high performance products; including Right Guard® Total Defense™ 5 and Right Guard® Sport antiperspirant deodorant. In 2011, Right Guard® celebrated its 50 year anniversary and launched new RIGHT GUARD® Total Defense 5™ Body Wash. Right Guard® brand has had a long-standing heritage in sports with previous spokesmen including Charles Barkley, Emmett Smith and Hulk Hogan.

About NBA All-Star 2012

NBA All-Star 2012 in Orlando will bring together some of the most talented and passionate players in the league’s history for a global celebration of the game. The 61^st NBA All-Star Game, which will take place on Sunday, Feb. 26 at Amway Center, will reach fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages. TNT will televise the All-Star Game for a 10^th consecutive year, marking Turner Sports' 27^th year of All-Star coverage. NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by State Farm will feature the Haier Shooting Stars, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, and Sprite Slam Dunk. Other events at NBA All-Star 2012 will include the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, and NBA All-Star Jam Session. Orlando also hosted NBA All-Star in 1992.