As we mentioned last week, NBA All-Star Weekend is in desperate need of renewal. The three-day event has devolved into an extended concert, with the games acting as an intermission to the celebrity introductions and cameo appearances.
After various attempts to augment the event to make it more fun, it has reached the worst state any televised event can devolve into — boring. That being said, there were storylines behind the smoke and mirrored simulation that emerged, settling old debates and birthing new ones.
We’ve pinpointed the five things that were made clear during the All-Star spectacle and what they mean for the gamer at large.
NBA still revolves around LeBron James
Even at 38 years old and in his 20th season, James still remains the face of the league. No other superstar has managed to supplant him in popularity or all-around talent.
Other guys may be able to score at a greater clip than him (James is seventh in the league in scoring at 30 points per game), but he remains the central star in the mechanism of the NBA as global theatre. No one among this generation of superstars (Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić, Zion Williamson, Jayson Tatum, and Giannis Antetokounmpo) has been able to fully grab the baton away from James as the next figurehead of the league.
Even at the All-Star Game, James held center court. As the co-captain of the game, he was tasked, yet again, to choose his team in a player draft. His 13 points in the first half had him in the running for MVP, an award announcer Candace Parker was ready to bestow on him in pre-game warm-ups.
When he did not return in the second half due to a hand injury, the excitement of the
game left with him. If James keeps producing like an MVP candidate, there won’t be a
need for anyone to replace him on the NBA throne until he decides to retire, with the all-
time scoring record bearing his name.
New York Knicks guard Quentin Grimes has arrived
You wouldn’t know it by the Rising Stars announcing crew, but Quinten Grimes announced himself to the NBA mainstream Friday night.
Through two games, Grimes dropped 27 points, had three steals, two blocks on 10-of-14 shooting, and 6-of-10 from the 3-point line. Grimes showed off the full arsenal of his three-level game, scoring in the intermediate area as well as shooting with higher confidence than he has with the Knicks as of late. In Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau’s rigid offensive system, Grimes is mostly regulated to the corner on offense. In the Rising Stars game, he was involved in pin downs and pick-and-roll action freeing him up in space to use his handle and high IQ.
Knicks fans have already known of Grimes’s high ceiling, but by the end of the Rising Stars tournament, he was the favorite to win MVP if only his team could have closed out in the final game. It would behoove Thibs to run more action featuring Grimes in a higher offensive role, letting him unleash his deep bag on opposing defenders.
The rest of the NBA now knows his name. It’s up to Thibs to ensure they don’t forget it.
The NBA All-Star Weekend’s Slam Dunk Contest is dead
Jericho Sims is a nice kid. He’s actually been very serviceable for the Knicks, replacing injured center Mitchell Robinson in the starting lineup. He is an elite rebounder and athletic high-flyer, making him a capable rim roller in pick-and-roll situations for Knicks guards. But as athletic as he is, he’s equally uncharismatic, one of the central traits for any Slam Dunk contest winner.
Just look at Mac McClung, who isn’t even on a guaranteed NBA contract but had enough chutzpa to win over the judges with standard dunks. Sims embarrassed himself with an array of underwhelming and mediocre dunk attempts. It wasn’t the nail in the proverbial coffin,
but it was certainly proof the contest has reached its limits.
Stars avoid it like the plague so as not to sully their cultural cache, which leaves the contestant pool to be fielded with end-of-the-bench guys and now G Leaguers. If the league is not going to raise the stakes in order to pull actual stars, it’s time to replace the event with one that the best in
the game will actually participate in.
Damian Lillard is the greatest Portland Trail Blazer
True basketball heads already knew this. And to be fair, winning the Three-Point Shootout wasn’t the final metric needed to cement Lillard’s legacy. But it certainly helped.
Lillard’s legacy as a 10-year Trail Blazer has been a welcome show of loyalty in the age of player empowerment. No one would have faulted Lillard for demanding a trade during the last five or six seasons when the Blazers seemed mired in mediocrity. But Lillard endured, believing not just in his teammates but in his ability to get better as a leader.
Along with Steph Curry and Chris Paul, Lillard is one of the top three point guards of the 2010s. As he got older, he sharpened his three-point shot into a lethal weapon, extended his range, and added to his crunch-time heroics. Even at 32 years old, he is still a top-five point guard in the league and has scored the most points in 2023 thus far.
Barring a miracle, Lillard won’t see an NBA championship in Portland. Even if he finds one elsewhere in the last quarter of his career, he will be remembered as the greatest player to ever don a Blazers uniform. Not just because of his individual skill but his unparalleled loyalty.
Ex-Utah Jazz great Karl Malone should have stayed home
When fans think of the greatest Jazz player of all time, it’s hard not to think of “The Mailman.” He has mostly laid low since retiring, driving his semi-trucks, hunting, and enjoying the open air on his farm.
Malone’s inclusion in the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities celebrating Utah NBA history brought him back into the limelight. The Internet took notice, with social media criticizing Malone’s recognition.
The reason for the uproar? A statutory rape allegation from 1983. When Malone was in college, the then 20-year-old Malone impregnated his “girlfriend,” 13-year-old Gloria Bell. To make matters worse, he disowned his child, Demetress Bell, who played briefly in the NFL as an offensive lineman.
This history of Malone’s rape allegations haunted his appearance throughout All-Star Weekend, as he was selected as a Dunk Contest judge. It would have been better to have left him wherever they hid John Stockton after the Hall of Fame point guard spread Covid-19 misinformation during the pandemic.
Lee Escobedo covers the NBA for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @_leeescobedo