Why NBA All-Star Weekend Sucks (And What The NBA Should Do About It)

I’m writing this on Sunday, with the NBA’s showcase event, the All-Star Game, set to take place tonight.?

NBA All-Star Saturday Night sucked. I’m mad at myself for staying awake to watch that garbage.?

Too many no-name players.?

Multiple dragged-on segments that had nothing to do with basketball.?

Promotional slots to advertise TV shows that have nothing to do with basketball (Steph Curry and his wife have a dating show?).?

Wack, needless musical performances. Tired events that have never been good, yet they keep having them.

I’m a basketball and NBA fan, so I will not only air my grievances, but examine the roots of the problems and some quick-idea fixes.?

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Let’s start with the All Star Weekend itself.?

The original purpose of the NBA’s All Star festivities was visibility.?

The first All Star Game was in Boston in 1951, way before smartphones and personal brands existed. The Game was created, wisely, as a way for the NBA to showcase their best talent in front of an audience of casual NBA fans.?

Emphasis on?CASUAL?fans.?

Hardcore basketball fans were watching the games already. The All Star stuff wasn't and isn't for the hardcore fans like me. It’s for the people who don't normally pay attention – people who know LeBron and Steph Curry, but couldn't pick Jimmy Butler or CJ McCollum out of a police lineup.?

The purpose of the All Star events is to suck casual fans deeper into what the NBA has to offer by showcasing the league’s best talent on a stage when everyone is watching.?

That’s why the All Star events exist. It’s marketing for the league.?

Four memorable All Star moments stick out in my mind (limited to the last 30 years):

1992:?Magic Johnson, who’d retired from the league three months earlier after being diagnosed with HIV, plays in the game after the fans voted him into the game as a starter. Still the best moment in All Star game history if you saw it happen (here it is: https://youtu.be/Lr1alYEIZ4c)

1997:?A young Kobe Bryant wins the Slam Dunk contest with an under-the-legs dunk (a move that seemingly every player can do today – but it was a WOW moment back then). (https://youtu.be/UqVibdD3UqA)

2000:?Vince Carter, who’d already wowed the league with his in-game dunking, EXCEEDS the hype and submits a better dunking exhibition than even what was expected of him.?

Vince is a Hall Of Fame player, but this is still the best thing he ever did in his career. This performance brought a ton of energy back to the All Star Weekend. If you know, you know. (https://youtu.be/FeCUMfraHcA)?

2001:?In my favorite All Star GAME that I’ve seen, Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury of the East duel with Kobe Bryant of the West in the best ASG ending I ever saw (the NBA recently added some gimmicks to make the games competitive – we’ll get to that in a moment).?

My argument for this being the best game was how excited the East players were when the outcome was decided (and how pissed the West players were – Kobe knows he shouldn't have passed to anyone; look at his face during the East celebration). (https://youtu.be/572tqNJcU7A)?

We don't get these moments anymore because the original reason for the All Star Weekend is no longer relevant.?

It stopped being relevant 7-10 years ago as people (and by extension, NBA players) got access to social media and internet publishing became ubiquitous and accessible by all. It’s less of a big deal to see someone in person than it used to be; follow someone on Instagram and it’s like they’re there all the time.?

With this, the players – the NBA’s bright, shiny objects – can show themselves off to casual fans on their own accord and schedule. They can display their personalities and take you inside their heads and lives. Connecting with the casual fan is no longer limited to one weekend every year. Blogging, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube and the rest means that NBA players can connect with fans all day, every day.?

The All Star Weekend is no longer the one place where all the fans and all the players interact in one space for three days once per year. The urgency (a 3-day weekend) and intimacy (the only place to see them all at once) is gone.?

Yet, the NBA keeps running the same event, year after year.?

Now, let’s take a look at the events themselves and find areas for improvement.?

FRIDAY NIGHT

The Rising Stars Challenge (formerly the Rookie Game) is good for showcasing the league’s young talent. This game is fun to watch as there are always a few young guys who haven't gotten much attention and play as if they have something to prove.?KEEP IT.?

The Celebrity Game is what you’d think it is: A bunch of non-basketball players playing basketball. It’s funny and silly and doesn't take itself too seriously. There are always 1-3 players who think they can really play, and make it even more fun as they try to prove their point.?KEEP IT.?

SATURDAY NIGHT

This is the night that most bothers me.?

I often ignore the Friday stuff, and the Sunday game is always melodramatic. Saturday is the night where the casual fan may be hooked into being more than a casual fan. So it hurts me to see the NBA botch this opportunity.

The NBA has tried things from 2-ball (don't ask) to a Legends competition (3-player teams of a retired guy, a WNBA player and a current player in a shooting contests that are as boring as it sounds) to the Skills Competition to whatever they’re calling it now, and they all suck.?DELETE THEM ALL.?

With as much talent as the NBA has, and as much as everyone – including well-paid athletes – wants to be seen, heard and known these days, there’s NO WAY you can tell me there aren't 10-20 NBA players who wouldn't volunteer to participate in a 1-on-1 (or 2-on-2 or 3-on-3) competition with a big money prize to the winner.?

I would rearrange my schedule to watch that, and it wouldn't matter who the players are. Competition is fun. And 1-on-1 is something that basketball players don't laugh off when they lose (like they laugh off misfiring passes through cones in the Skills Competition).?

I’d sleep just fine without the rapper performances.?

Again— the reason for the weekend is marketing the NBA’s talent to the casual fan. Nobody watches All Star Weekend to see DJ Khaled or Lil’ Wayne or XXXXX rapper / singer performing.?DELETE.?

(Furthermore, rap is not the best genre for concerts. The NBA turns musical guest appearances into concerts, full with stage sets and everything – basically a cheap version of the Super Bowl halftime show with considerably worse performances. NBA All Star Weekend is not the Super Bowl, and the NBA seems to be the only ones who don't understand this.)

Lil’ Baby (who performed Saturday night) is not an artist who you’d want to hear for the first time at a concert. For one, you couldn't make out anything he’s saying if you never heard the songs before. Second, most casual NBA fans — who are STILL mostly white, middle class and conservative (despite the NBA’s ongoing efforts to alienate them, which I’ll get to) –– have never heard of Lil’ Baby and probably don’t want to hear of him.?DELETE.

The Three Point Contest is the best event of the night. It’s also the smoothest-running event, has zero lulls in the action, the fewest gimmicks and is easiest for a casual observer to understand. And it also happens to be the one event on All Star Saturday that has changed the least since the 1980s. Do you think this is a coincidence??KEEP.?

The Slam Dunk contest is now officially horrible. Every few years, some exciting dunker comes in and steals the show, but the NBA isn't doing a good job of creating the environment for this to happen.?EDIT & KEEP.

Remember the point of the weekend: Showcasing the game’s stars. Not skills – STARS. Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Dr. J and Vince Carter are people who've participated in Dunk Contests – they were also playing in the All Star Game that same year.?

The Dunk Contest isn't just about the best dunks – it’s about the biggest stars with the best dunks. That’s why it’s a disappointment that LeBron James, a great dunker, never participated in it.?

No casual fan has heard of this year’s participants. None of them is, or is close to being, a star on their current NBA teams. There were only 4 participants when there should have been 8 (the NBA has a deep enough talent pool). There should be more bigger-named guys. All Star Weekend is not designed for “Who is he?” first- and second-year players who don’t draw an audience.

If the goal is to showcase the best dunks, period, then the NBA should recruit some non-NBA dunkers to compete against some NBA player dunkers. That will touch on some egos and bring attention to the event: This guy who’s not even in the league is gonna beat the NBA guys? That’s an interesting storyline.?

All Star Saturday should be a 1) 1-on-1 competition, 2) 2-on-2 competition, 3) the Three-Point Contest and the 4) Slam Dunk Contest.?

That’s it. No musical guests. No TV show promos. No more gimmicky contrived competitions that no one takes seriously.?

Fixing Saturday can save the whole weekend.?

SUNDAY

The game itself has always been melodramatic, and I understand.?

All Star is in the middle of the season, and players use the All Star break to rejuvenate and get ready for the home scratch going into the Playoffs. Playing hard is optional. Usually the game is only serious in the last 5 minutes – problem is, one team may be ahead by so much at that point that it’s too late.?

The games had started sucking so bad, the NBA had to bring in the Elam Ending to manipulate the players into playing hard. In short, the Elam Ending creates a “Target Score” for the game to end on, so instead of going by the clock, the game ends on a point total. I like the Elam Ending (and the TBT event they borrowed it from) — but no other NBA games have it, and those games are well-played under the usual rules.?

The Elam Ending is another gimmick added to All Star weekend that makes it more style than substance. But if it makes the games a little bit more competitive, then it’s fine. I always watch the game with tempered expectations.?

Since last year, the NBA has gotten itself into something else that may be hard to get out of: HBCU (historically black colleges & universities) pandering.?

Students and HBCU schools are weaved into the programming and proceedings for some unclear reason. Well, it's not really unclear: Ever since the American “racial awakening” of 2020, black NBA players have made a point of showing off how much they love HBCUs. HBCUs have been around for decades, and were never mentioned at ASW until 2021 – which is how you know it’s a Woke publicity stunt.?

This all conveniently ignores the fact that, despite being the top-rated players in the country who would have a full-ride athletic scholarship to any school, NONE of your favorite NBA players chose an HBCU for college (only one — yes, ONE — current NBA player attended an HBCU). All of a sudden, HBCUs have become part of the NBA’s Woke DEI initiative.?

It’s so fake it’s disgusting. But it’s “helping” black people, so I guess I should act like I’m proud about it.??

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

1) Bring non-NBA players into the Friday & Saturday events. This will heighten competition immediately: No NBA player wants to be shown up by anyone who’s not in the league (and those non-NBA guys would be playing HARD).?

2) Introduce more competitive events that people actually want to see. Nobody cares for the first half of Saturday Night; delete it.?

3) The NBA has to decide what they want this weekend to be, as the original reason / idea no longer matches the world we’re in. The Super Bowl is literally the championship game of the NFL. The NBA can't copy that energy and meaning with an exhibition that its players just hope to make it through.?

4) Kill the woke stuff. Problem with it: Big organizations are good at getting into stuff – but terrible and reversing the policies that lead to the stuff they get into (see the slow-ending “pandemic” with jab & mask mandates and how it’s taking so long to declare it “over” even though everyone – even those who wanted mandates – is ready for exactly that). The NBA is stuck being Woke, because to stop would be racist.?

Commissioner Adam Silver inherited a very strong league less than a decade ago, and it seems he wants to point the NBA more towards the younger, everyday fan and away from the traditional corporate client that made the NBA a billion dollar conglomerate. Only time will tell if he’s right.?

I’ll leave it at this for now. The game comes on in a few hours; I hope it’s good (I’m going to bed and will catch the highlights tomorrow).?

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