Let’s be honest, NBA All-Star Weekend is mainly for the casuals. Hardcore NBA heads can also enjoy it, but the daily minutia of League Pass is where they live and breathe. The All-Star Game is set up as pulp entertainment. With its celebrity-laden events and focus, it’s almost transcended into camp.
This year’s event is in Salt Lake City, Utah, a city devoid of the glitz and glamour of, say, Miami, New York or Los Angeles. But how the league will frame and contextualize the three-day sponsorship commercial will remain the same.
The event has lost much of its luster as we approach the 71st year of the NBA All-Star Game.
Despite its collective star power, there are many reasons for the event fizzling. With the
ceremonial prestige of last year’s celebration of the league’s 75 Greatest Players behind us, the attention returns to the machinations of the three-day event. Many things can be improved
about the event.
Here are some our ideas on what we want to see during the game’s celebration of its top talent.
Make the NBA All-Star Game more competitive
The All-Star Game is the one time of the year when the NBA’s best talent gathers in one place. The issue is it has become less about the top players competing and more about them entertaining the crowd with the beta version of basketball.
Defense is an afterthought, with every play an attempt at a highlights play worthy of social media replay. There have been iterations in the last couple of years where things have gotten tense toward the end, but it’s still more exhibition than elite competition.
The All-Star Game should have greater bearing toward End-of-the-Year awards. This doesn’t mean Defensive Player of the Year or Sixth Man will be determined in the All-Star game. Many of those players aren’t even invited. But All-NBA positions could have some determination on how players
perform, especially which team wins. Financial incentives won’t be enough for stars on multi-
million dollar contracts, but assisting toward the end-of-season awards might.
Return to East vs. West
One of the worst changes to the All-Star Game format was moving away from the best players from each conference battling it out. Once it went towards a draft format with the two captains picking players, it implemented a petty element based on who is cool with who at the time. This was personified last season when Kevin Durant refused to pick James Harden after Harden demanded a trade from the Nets, where he was teammates with Durant, to the 76ers.
The change also removed the element of the competitive spirit behind the conferences battling for supremacy. Former teammates on the outs are forced to unite once again, and bitter rivals are now part of super teams. With the current draft format, the talent can be more lopsided, and friends can pick each other to play with.
Dump the celebrity element from All-Star Weekend
From Migos to Justin Beiber to Justin Timberlake, the All-Star Game has a long history of involving celebs of all mediums to participate in the weekend festivities. Unfortunately, it’s gotten way out of hand, to the point that the celebrity cameos have overshadowed what the game is supposed to be about.
This year’s celebrity list is more D-list than A-list, making it all the more embarrassing. Participants in the celebrity game include YouTube “star” Jesser, “comedian” Hasan Minhaj, singer Janelle Monáe, rapper 21 Savage, and even Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh. It sounds like a modern-day version of “Celebrity Squares.”
Ben Affleck will announce the teams to make matters cornier, and Post Malone will perform. We
get trying to make Utah cool, but flooding the NBA showcase event with celebrity grifters vying
for their 15 minutes of fame turns the whole event into a cheap sideshow.
Revert to Rookies vs. Sophomores
Each draft class seeks to lay claim to being one of the best in the modern era. The Rising Stars contest allowed consecutive draft classes to compete for the crown of best in class. But divvying it into four different teams with a mixture of sophomores and rookies playing together robs the collective players of that honor.
It’s always special when the rookies win, as the sophomores have had more time to gain accustomed to the NBA game, with some even having their first shot at the playoffs. Divvying up the game back to how it used to be would give it the structure needed for the final score to matter.
Incentivize stars to participate in Slam Dunk Contest
It almost seems fictional, thinking back to a time when Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter and Micheal Jordan used to compete in the dunk contest.
That changed with LeBron James, who was one of the best players in the game from the moment he played his first game but refused to ever participate in the contest. He was the first domino to fall, gradually eliminating the star power from the event.
Just look at the four competitors in this year’s contest (KJ Martin of the Houston Rockets, Mac McClung of the Philadelphia 76ers, Trey Murphy III of the New Orleans Pelicans and Jericho Sims of the New York Knicks). All fine leapers, but mostly guys who are end of bench role players. Maybe a charity element or one superstar entering back into the fray would convince others to follow suit.
Can you imagine a line-up of Zion Williamson, LeBron James, Ja Morant and Giannis
Antetokounmpo competing against each other? It wouldn’t even matter that every dunk has
been done before if it’s the game’s best and brightest were attempting them.
Lee Escobedo covers the NBA for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @_leeescobedo