NBA All-Star Weekend: A Celebration Turned Caricature
A Bygone Era
Got a call the other day: “Scoop, you goin’ to the Bay for All-Star?”
Response: “Naw. Not interested.”
Got stopped on the street earlier this week: “Scoop Jackson. Thought you’d be in San Fran for All-Star. Since you’re here, where are you gonna watch the game?”
The NBA: A League in Crisis
Response: “Probably not going to. They’ve turned it all into too much of a circus. It ain’t even about basketball anymore.”
There was a time for many of us when the NBA was the (our) NFL. It could do no wrong regardless of how wrong things got. We held the league down like grandmothers do bad-ass kids when talking to teachers. All NBA, all day, every day. At all cost.
The Decline of All-Star Weekend
Those days — over. As this year’s waste of another NBA All-Star Weekend arrives, it’s another reminder that — much like with the Democratic Party — there’s serious work to be done. The numbers are down. But more urgently and purposefully, the numbers are being aligned against something greater to make a greater point. Knowing that one will never match up to the other.
The Super Bowl, 127.7M viewers. Luka Doncic’s first game as a Laker (the game that was supposed to be the biggest splash of the season coming behind a trade that was so unbelievable and the fallout so massive, it interrupted the Super Bowl spotlight for almost a week), 2.55M viewers.
A League in Crisis
The highs and the lows. Something’s gotta give.
So since it’s become what it’s become and the NBA can no longer rely on this weekend (it doesn’t even put the ASG on a broadcast network) to remind the world of what they’re missing out on when they choose to miss out on the NBA, it is imperative that the games leading up to All-Star Weekend and all games after do for the NBA everything All-Star Weekend no longer can.
The sad part is that that part, too, is impossible.
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A Colleague’s Concern
Got a text from an old colleague who works for the NBA, not happy about the column I wrote last year about the fall of the All-Star Game and Weekend: “So I’m figuring we lost you. You are no longer an All-Star Game fan. Sad. Thought you were a real one.’’
Response: “Don’t hate the writer, hate the game. Why you mad at me? Actin’ like I’m the one who did this to the weekend. You all ruined it yourselves. Plus, my guy, All-Star ain’t even y’alls’ biggest problem.” (Shock emoji followed.)
The NBA’s Demons
Truth, especially when it doesn’t come in the form of love, hurts. Especially when it comes from a loved one. And the truth is the NBA can’t keep having trade-deadline drama, social-media trolls and beefs, tunnel walks and $76 billion rights deals saving it. It needs to stand upright and face its three demons — the style of play, the officiating, the injuries — in order to save itself from itself.
Of those three, the officiating is the least of the game’s worries. After having a lesser-than-subpar showing in last season’s playoffs (and calling that out in a column last year didn’t help, trust me), the referee collective across the league seems to have self-checked itself and elevated to a point where its noticeability in deciding the outcomes of games has almost vanished. Even as the playoffs remain the prevailing factor, the game’s game officials seem to have found a nondisruptive whistle-blowing flow this season.
As for the other two, the style of play and players’ inability to stay on the court or appear in games regularly are married to each other with what seems like a titanium-clad arrangement that death ain’t even strong enough to do them apart. Every team, every game, every possession hunting the three-point line like Drake hunting lawyers. Killing the game’s creative vibe. Every non-Ja Morant highlight or shot furthering the game into an abyss of predictability and analytics.
A Conclusion
The NBA used to use All-Star Weekend as its reintroduction and savior. Now it has become a chalked outline of itself and Sunday’s game eulogized long ago by the basketball clergy and coroners who are still thinking of something respectful yet honest to etch on its headstone.
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FAQs
Q: Why has All-Star Weekend lost its appeal?
A: The NBA has become too commercialized, and the game has lost its essence.
Q: What can be done to revitalize the league?
A: The NBA needs to focus on its core values, such as skillful play, athleticism, and competition, rather than relying on gimmicks and publicity stunts.
Q: What is the future of the NBA?
A: The future of the NBA is uncertain, but it is clear that the league needs to make significant changes to remain relevant and exciting to fans.
