NBA All-Star Game: Will Stars Finally Take The Game Seriously?

The NBA made tweaks to its All-Star game in hopes it becomes more competitive (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Every week, Mark Medina shares his thoughts and insights on the latest NBA topics for RG. In this installment, he gives his take on the NBA All-Star game’s new format.

In hopes to make the NBA All-Star game relevant again, the league and its players union agreed on a few ideas.  

Instead of assembling a team based on conference affiliations or a player-driven draft, TNT’s Shaq, Chuck and Kenny selected their own respective squads.  

Instead of playing a traditional contest, the All-Star game will feature a mini tournament consisting of all three teams and the Rising Stars’ championship team.

Instead of competing for all four quarters, both teams will have to reach a target score (40).  

Here’s a better idea for the NBA All-Star game this Sunday in San Francisco: how about the players just try?

How about competing so that NBA fans can see the league’s best put on an entertaining show? How about taking the game seriously to validate what it means to be an All-Star? How about viewing this exhibition game as a serious tentpole event because it maximizes the value of the NBA’s television contracts and increases more sponsors and eventually, boost players’ salaries on the next deal? How about turning this showdown into an actual game instead of an open layup line and a defacto 3-point contest?

I know, I know. The NBA All-Star game isn’t a real game and this should provide a respite from the grueling 82-game season and the challenging postseason ahead. Players shouldn’t have to play at Game 7 intensity when they are expected to stay healthy and fresh for games that count. The NBA makes All-Star weekend feel exhausting by giving players’ more corporate events to attend and having lineup introductions last almost an entire quarter.  

These are all fair points, but they shouldn’t obfuscate the bigger picture.  

No one expects the All-Star game to become a playoff classic. No one expects the All-Star game to mirror a pre-season walk-through, either. No one expects the All-Stars to execute intricate offensive plays or take defensive charges. No one expects the All-Stars to play like they’re the Harlem Globetrotters, either. The NBA should reduce its in-game ops and player-driven promotional initiatives, but that shouldn’t excuse the All-Stars from acting like they wished they spent their weekend in Cancun.  

Though the player-movement era has produced super teams once thought only imaginable in All-Star games, the NBA All-Star game hasn’t completely lost its novelty. It still represents the only league-sanctioned game that features the world’s best talent in one game. Therefore, fans aren’t asking much for the world’s best players to compete and entertain.  

Incidentally, expect this year’s NBA All-Star game to become more bearable after the past two contests featured zero defense and effort. 

The tournament format will entice teams to want to advance. The target score will prompt teams to play a more purposeful game based on making quality shots and stops. With Shaq’s OGs playing the Rising Stars, each generation has more of an incentive to exert its supremacy. With Chuck’s Global Stars facing off against Kenny’s Young Stars, the NBA’s international and domestic stars will show their patriotism usually reserved for just the Olympics.  

The NBA deserves kudos for its continued creativity to enhance its product. That kind of thinking produced the NBA’s Play-In tournament and In-Season tournament, two events that have helped add regular-season spice after several teams previously treated those periods as the dog days.  

Based on recent history, however, the NBA has seen its players embrace new tweaks to the All-Star game only to then become bored with it.  

In 2018, NBA players initially favored the All-Star draft as it allowed them to play de-facto GM and somewhat mirror how they once picked teams out on the playground. That competitive seriousness lasted one game. In honor of Kobe Bryant’s passing in 2020, the NBA then required the winning team to reach a target score that totaled the leading team’s total score through three quarters and an additional 24 points in honor of Bryant’s jersey number. That competitiveness last three seasons.  

Amid criticism the league’s long pre-game draft process in 2023 led to a sluggish All-Star game, the NBA returned last season to its traditional East-West format in a 48-minute game. Then, the Eastern Conference All-Stars set a league-record for most points (211), leading NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to offer a passive-aggressive congratulations.  

Point being, the NBA’s tweaks and incentives won’t do anything to enhance the All-Star game unless the players actually care. It would be downright inexcusable if this year’s All-Stars don’t offer a competitive game amid all the changes the league and players union implemented. That’s not enough, though. The NBA’s All-Stars have to show consistently in future years that fans have a reason to watch regardless of the game’s roster makeup and rules.

And if not? Then, the NBA should do away with All-Star weekend completely and accept the financial ramifications. The fans deserve better.