For months, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stressed how important it was to have a competitive All-Star game this season.
So, what did we get Sunday night? Well, it was perhaps the most unserious game in history.
A ridiculous All-Star game record of 397 points were scored thanks to players refusing to play defense. It was a glorified 3-point competition for the most part, with teams combining to take 168 shots from downtown. In fact, 58.1% of all field goal attempts came from behind the arc.
Some players simply didn't care and were open about their feelings that they shouldn’t put much effort into the game.
“For me, it's an All-Star Game, so I will never look at it as being super competitive," Anthony Edwards bluntly said. "It's always fun. I don't know what they can do to make it more competitive. I don't know. I think everyone looks at it (like) it's a break, so I don't think everyone wants to come here and compete.”
For others, while they’d like to see a more competitive game, their fear of getting injured in a meaningless game prevents them from doing so.
“There were definitely some discussions (about making it more competitive),” Jaylen Brown said. “I guess guys are trying to figure out how to do that at the same time as having fun, being safe, being injury-free. More solutions need to be had to figure that out.”
Overall, the players know it’s a boring product, but again, simply don’t care. Just look at what Anthony Davis said when asked what was the highlight of the game.
“I think the best, we were talking about it, was the Bulls and the Pacers dunkers (during a break). The trampolines," Davis said. "They were very, very impressive.”
Pundits and fans alike wondered if the All-Star Game was on life support considering how uncompetitive — and at times flat out boring — it had been over the years. After this year’s showing, there’s a lot of chatter about it being time to pull the plug. In fact, ways to fix the All-Star game was a popular topic over the past 24 hours with wide-ranging ideas about what to do going forward.
Let’s take a look at a handful of those ideas.
Increase Incentives
This year’s inaugural In-Season tournament was a success. There are many reasons why, but chief among them is that each player on the winning team earned $500,000.
By comparison, those on the winning All-Star team made $100,000 while those on the losing team got only $25,000. That’s a significant chunk of change for 99.9% of the population, but doesn’t move the needle much for the league’s superstars. After all, what’s $100,000 to someone like Stephen Curry, who makes nearly $52 million per year?
As such, numerous outlets and pundits from ESPN, USA Today, Sporting News and more wonder if upping the incentive to the $500,000 that players get for winning the In-Season Tournament would make the game more competitive.
Switch to One-on-One Format
Would players going mano-a-mano make for a more entertaining, competitive All-Star showcase?
The idea is enticing, and several outlets have mentioned how it would cause more fans to tune in.
Just picture Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić going head-to-head. Or how about LeBron James vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Damian Lillard squaring off against Curry.
A 32-player bracket until there’s only one man left certainly sounds more entertaining than what we’ve seen in recent years.
Move Game to End of the Year
This recommendation is self-explanatory.
If players are concerned about injuries, simply move the All-Star Game from the middle of the season to the end of the year. Of course, the NFL holds it’s annual showcase the week before the Super Bowl, but it’s never been a competitive game. In fact, the league scrapped it altogether, opting to adopt an “All-Star Games” format with players competing in different events.
The Crazy, Impractical Ideas
Here are some wild ideas being thrown out, but have virtually no chance of happening. Still, they’re fun to think about.
Ban Losers From Playing Next Year – The Sporting News offered up this remedy, believing it would make the game “cutthroat.”
All-Star Game Winner Earns Finals Home-court Advantage – Major League Baseball went this direction for a few years with the winning league earning home-field advantage in the World Series. It was met with criticism by fans and players alike, so it’s hard to see the NBA adopting an incentive that was so unpopular in another league.
NBA Jam – How about turning the All-Star Game into a real-life version of the popular video game? The Indianapolis Star’s Joel Erickson threw out making it a full court, 2-on-2 tournament. It might be worth it just to hear the announcers say, “He’s heating up!” or “He’s on fire!” and other catchphrases that have entered the everyday vernacular.
USA vs. the World – Andscape and ESPN’s Jesse Washington believes this format has the biggest potential. It wouldn’t be the first time a professional league pitted America against the rest of the world. The NHL did it for a number of years. It was entertaining at first, but fans eventually grew bored of it and the league eventually switched to another format.
Losers Fly Commercial – This one was offered up in jest by Washington. Still, it’s fun to think of Jayson Tatum sitting in first class while Jokić is forced to squeeze into coach.
