Before heading home from New Orleans, the Denver Nuggets were this close from making the airplane just a little bit heavier and bringing home a second piece of hardware from NBA All-Star Weekend.

The festivities began on Friday night, where rookie Jamal Murray and second-year big man Nikola Jokić played in the Rising Stars Challenge. Originally slated to also play in the game but sitting out due to a nagging back injury, Emmanuel Mudiay still traveled to New Orleans to cheer on his two teammates and participate in other All-Star Weekend events, such as Basketball Without Borders.

As expected, the Rising Stars Challenge was a high-scoring affair. The World Team squeezed out a 150-141 victory against Team US behind a brilliant performance by Jamal Murray. Murray got hot from long-distance, draining nine three-pointers en route to 36 points and the Rising Stars Challenge MVP award. This is the second time a Nugget has won that award in the game with Kenneth Faried picking it up in 2013. Murray also added 11 assists.

“I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was just playing,” Murray said. “I just kept yelling, ‘I’m hot! I’m hot!’ and they kept feeding me the ball, and I just kept shooting it.

“You never know when I’m going to go off. I just always try to hit every shot I make.”

Nikola Jokić also continued his stat-sheet stuffing, nearly pulling off a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.

On Saturday night, it was Jokić’s turn to try to bring home a trophy for the Nuggets. Jokić took on Anthony Davis in the first-round of the Skills Challenge, where players test their ball-handling, passing, and shooting talents. It came down to the wire with Jokić slightly behind Davis going into the final three-point shot, the last part of the course. Davis missed his first one and gave Jokić a chance to win it. Jokić did just that, knocking down the shot and moving on to the second round.

There, another versatile big man awaited, Kristaps Porzingis. It was a battle right until the end with the final three-point shot again a factor. Porzingis took the lead but missed the first three-point attempt. Jokić saw his opportunity and launched a three from about 30 feet, which banked in just shortly after Porzingis’ shot went in.

At one point during All-Star Weekend, Altitude TV’s Vic Lombardi interviewed Charles Barkley, who now works as an analyst for TNT and is known for his sometimes-controversial opinions.

Barkley praised Murray and Jokić.

“You guys don’t know what you have yet,” Barkley said.

Trust us, Charles… We do know exactly what we have.