NBA

The NBA All-Star Game: Why It Needs To Go Away Forever

Darren Ryding - November 5, 2024

NBA

The NBA All-Star Game: Why It Needs To Go Away Forever

Darren Ryding - November 5, 2024

The NBA All-Star Game is a traditional part of the season when the best players gather to show their skills. At least, that’s what it’s meant to be in theory, but the reality is very different. These days the players don’t seem to care much and that’s why the NBA All-Star Game needs to disappear forever.

So today we’ll look at the main reasons why the quality of the All-Star Game has dropped as fans’ favorite athletes stopped giving their all. We’ll analyze expert opinions and potential solutions to the malaise. Check out the reasons and see if you agree on whether it should stay or go here.

Too Many Points

2024 saw the NBA All-Star Game rack up a record number of points. If anybody who didn’t watch basketball heard about this they might wonder what the problem with that is. They’d probably think that the game was more exciting because there were more scores. But they would be wrong because it’s actually boring (via The Athletic).

The East won 211-186 because there was no defense being played. Players didn’t try to stop each other from scoring as they refused to put themselves on the line. It’s possible to understand where they’re coming from while also lamenting the loss of tradition. In the end, no one cared and now this farce needs to disappear forever.

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Analyst Stephen A Smith Looks On Prior To The Game Between News Photo 1664197020 — Esquire

Flag Basketball

Unsurprisingly, sports talking head Stephen A. Smith had strong opinions about the 2024 NBA All-Star Game. He lambasted the players for their lack of effort and said that they don’t care about the fans. Smith compared it to flag basketball and said that it would be better to have no game than this garbage (via Fox Sports).

What transpired last night was an absolute travesty,” Smith said. “No defense, no effort whatsoever. This is the ultimate indictment against the NBA stars who show up on NBA All-Star Weekend. You play harder in the Summer League when you’re training. That’s all anybody’s asking … You can give the fans at least that.”

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Fos 22 6.6 Adam Silver.jpg — Front Office Sports

Commissioner Adam Silver’s Anger

Things are bad when even the NBA Commissioner has a listless response to the All-Star Game. Adam Silver reacted sarcastically when he handed the trophy to the winning team (via The Street). Silver said: “To the Eastern Conference All-Stars, you scored the most points – Well, congratulations.”

Gettyimages 2021781064 E1708443710193.jpg — Sportico

It’s crazy that even Silver had no patience for the athletes who showed up but didn’t give any effort. He showed enthusiasm before the game but threw them under the bus later. This was wild and shows why the NBA All-Star game needs to disappear forever.

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Tough Watch

NBA Veteran Austin Rivers agreed that it was a difficult watch. He said: “This past weekend was a tough watch. Listen, I’m not expecting guys to be Game 7, dive on the floor, give everything you’ve got. But there’s a fine line between not playing hard and even what they did last night.”

That’s the biggest problem with the All-Star game right now and why it needs to disappear. There doesn’t appear to be any way to motivate players to show some passion. If they’re not going to bother then there’s no point charging fans to watch this showpiece event (via Bleacher Report).

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72642191007 02172024 All Star Saturday Jt 002.jpg — Indy Star

Low Ratings

2023 saw an all-time low of under five million viewers. This was a horrific indictment of the All-Star Game and how far it fell in fans’ eyes. The number rose slightly to 5.5 million in 2024 but it doesn’t capture the imagination like before. Fans tuned in in 2020 because of the Kobe Bryant tribute.

But that was an outlier and networks are struggling to retain viewers. Who can blame them for choosing not to watch this meaningless game? The product is horrific and that’s why no one wants to watch it. They should save production money and scrap this waste of time (via Sportico).

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Should Be An Honor To Compete

Kendrick Perkins laid into the 2024 All-Stars and slammed their efforts. He said: “It was embarrassing and it was disrespectful to the game of basketball, to the NBA. To be an NBA All-Star, it’s an honor! Do you know how I would have felt if I made the All-Star Game?”

This should be a massive honor and a highlight of players’ careers. But while they’re happy to accept the accolade they don’t want to waste their time playing a meaningless game. The East vs. West battle doesn’t have the same rivalry as it did before and that’s why the game needs to disappear (via WETM).

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Injury Worries

Anthony Davis earned his ninth All-Star selection in 2024 and played in this ridiculous game. The Lakers star gave his take on what went down in Indianapolis. He explained that players can’t risk suffering injuries that could cost their teams and careers.

We sympathize with this perspective but it doesn’t help the product. Davis said (via Time): “Obviously the fans and the league and everybody wants to be competitive, but then you also as players think about trying not to get hurt. Injuries are a part of the game, and no one wants to get hurt in the All-Star Game.”

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Team USA vs. The World

Many people are trying to create solutions to save the NBA All-Star Game. One suggestion was that instead of East vs. West, they could do Team USA against the Rest of the World. This sounds great on paper but the problem is that it would be the same group of players.

57abf5eb 0f39 4e10 Adfd Cad4caa86065 Gty 1329438740.jpg — AP

They still play in the same league so there wouldn’t be any jeopardy. The only difference would be that Jokic and Doncic would stand around chatting with the same shirt instead of being on opposite sides. That’s why the best idea is to make it disappear forever because it’s a waste of time (via CBS Sports).

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Shaquille Oneal Kobe Bryant La Lakers.jpg — Sportscasting

Shaq and Kobe

This was the last time there was a classic NBA All-Star game in normal circumstances. Millions of fans tuned in because they wanted to see Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant reunite on the hardwood. Suddenly there was drama and potential jeopardy that modern editions lack.

Shaquille Oneal Kobe Bryant 7794f7c39c2543998d51cf460d9498c9 — People

These days we see the likes of Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic more interested in catching up than playing. The NBA All-Star Game is an afterthought for these athletes and they don’t care about the traditions. That’s why the game should disappear because it doesn’t matter anymore (via Sportskeeda).

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Sc Shannon Sharpe Explainer Comp Copy.jpg — The US Sun

Blatant Disregard

Shannon Sharpe said that the NBA All-Star Game isn’t as bad as the Pro Bowl yet. That’s because the latter doesn’t allow tackling so it’s a diluted product. But at least fans know what they’re getting and don’t expect a good game. The NBA version is pretending to be a competitive contest.

Sharpe said (via The Sun): “The game has basically morphed into lay-ups, dunks, and threes. There is a blatant disregard for the game. These are the best players in the world and that is ridiculous.” There doesn’t seem to be any way to incentivize players to prove so what’s the point?

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Lack of Interest

Timberwolf Anthony Edwards made his second All-Star appearance in 2024. But he showed utter disdain for the showpiece event before the game. Instead of treating it as the honor it is meant to be, he said he’d shoot with his left hand for the entire match. The NBA should have told him where to go because this was shameful.

Anthony Edwards Fined Tout 081023 A0452da5f6fe4b3997d3dd727056b041 — People

Everyone talks about injuries but this doesn’t happen. Yes, Dwayne Wade once broke Kobe Bryant’s nose but he stayed in the game and guarded LeBron James in 2012. That shows the different mindsets that players had. It doesn’t look like contemporary athletes have the same dog inside them (via Sportsnet).

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Radical Solution

The Ringer founder Bill Simmons believes that he has a novel solution to fix the All-Star Game. He said: “I figured out how to fix the NBA All-Star game. Here’s my idea: let’s get rid of three-pointers. It’s just twos and ones, and we can say in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter, now people are allowed to shoot threes.”

Bill Simmons Espn Upfronts.jpg — Vanity Fair

There were indeed a record number of three-point attempts as players shot from everywhere. But removing them also takes away one of the most spectacular parts of the game. No one wants to watch basketball without three-pointers so we’ll disagree and say it should disappear forever (via The Spun).

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No Incentives

Kendrick Perkins believes that players need more motivation to play. The former NBA Champion said: “Players won’t say it publicly, but to move the needle, to get an All-Star game where they’re actually competing, you know what’s going to have to happen: the NBA is going to have to increase the incentives.”

Nba: New Orleans Pelicans At Oklahoma City Thunder — Larry Brown Sports

The problem is that there’s no financial way to incentivize multi-millionaire athletes. Steph Curry isn’t going to get out of bed for the amount of money the NBA would offer winners. Meanwhile, intrinsic motivations don’t work as we saw when the NBA put sick children in the arena (via USA Today).

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The 2020 Format

The last time that fans and players cared about the All-Star game was in 2020. This was because Kobe Bryant passed away in a tragic helicopter accident and the league paid tribute. They introduced new formats and reset the clock at the end of each quarter (via Betway).

Meanwhile, the final quarter saw officials turn off the clock as each team raced to 24 points. This was the Black Mamba’s jersey number so it was a fitting tribute. We’re not saying that they should do this every year. But they need to innovate or the game will disappear forever.

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2022 Nba All Star At&t Slam Dunk — Complex

Slam-Dunk Contest

In 2024, fans watched an insipid Slam Dunk Contest over All-Star Weekend. The problem with most of the skills events is that we’ve seen them a million times before. Sabrina Ionescu’s three-point clash with Steph Curry worked because there was some meaning behind it.

There was drama and an incentive for both of them to give their best shot. However, the same isn’t true in the regular skills events because these aspects are so widespread now. We instantly see social media clips of players performing more spectacular feats under pressure each week (via Basketball Forever).

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Home Court Advantage

How do we motivate players to give their best shot in the NBA All-Star Game? Sports Illustrated’s Ben Stinar tweeted: “NBA All-Star Game easiest fix in the world. The conference winner gets the home-court advantage in the NBA Finals. Easy.” This might seem great on paper but it’s not that simple.

They’re overlooking the simple truth that athletes are selfish people. They don’t care about these things if they can have another weekend of recovery or time with their family. Stinar is giving them too much credit if he thinks they care about something so far away.

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Usatsi 19177905 Scaled.jpg — Front Office Sports

NBA Vs. G-League

Here’s another potential solution to the travesty that is the current All-Star Game. Let’s explain why it won’t work and crush the hopes of G-Leaguers across the nation. It sounds great on paper to have NBA players clashing with G-League stars. The former want to prove their quality and not suffer an upset (via NBA.com).

16978011 Web1 Bkn Ignite Oct04 22 002.jpg — Las Vegas Review-Journal

Meanwhile, the G-League players would be desperate to prove themselves against the best. Guarantee the G-League MVP a contract and it sounds too good to be true. That’s because it is too big to hope for. The NBA players would never allow it so the game simply needs to disappear forever.

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MLB Comparison

There was a time when the NBA delivered the most exciting All-Star Game. But now it’s actively fighting with the Pro Bowl to be the worst. MLB is probably the best because players still show some effort. Meanwhile, the Home Run Contest is genuinely fun to watch.

Perhaps it’s also because it’s more challenging to watch the best MLB players every week. There are so many MLB games that it’s difficult to spend time viewing other teams. The MLB All-Star Game brings the best together for a fan experience that’s better than the basketball product now (via Forbes).

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Three-Point Contest

The three-point contests were arguably the most compelling part of the 2024 All-Star Weekend. We give credit to Damian Lillard after he defended his title. However, the main event saw Sabrina Ionescu battle against Steph Curry in an NBA vs. WNBA clash.

Steph Curry Sabrina Ionescu Getty.jpg — CBS Sports

Instead, of an NBA All-Star Game it would be more exciting to see more of these types of match-ups. Ionescu put Curry under pressure as he claimed the belt. She scored enough to make the final of the NBA three-point contest so there’s no denying that she belonged (via The Guardian).

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Social Media Effect

NBA stars loved the All-Star Game for decades because it was an opportunity to shine in front of the world. However, now they market themselves without traditional media by going online. Fans can engage with their favorite superstars on different social media platforms.

14nba Ja Morant 1 Kmlv Videosixteenbynine3000 — New York Times

Meanwhile, they also view their highlights in short clips on TikTok and YouTube. The All-Star Game is obsolete because it no longer serves the players’ purposes. Sentiment doesn’t mean anything in a capitalistic society and that’s one more reason among many why it needs to disappear forever (via Front Office Sports).

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The NBA All-Star Game: Why It Needs To Go Away Forever

The NBA All-Star Game: Why It Needs To Go Away Forever

Too Many Points

Flag Basketball

Commissioner Adam Silver’s Anger

Tough Watch

Low Ratings

Should Be An Honor To Compete

Injury Worries

Team USA vs. The World

Shaq and Kobe

Blatant Disregard

Lack of Interest

Radical Solution

No Incentives

The 2020 Format

Slam-Dunk Contest

Home Court Advantage

NBA Vs. G-League

MLB Comparison

Three-Point Contest

Social Media Effect

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