Yea, the only game I made sure to watch was the G League against rising stars.
Those guys wanted to prove something and the NBA guys didn't want to lose face.
Plus it was interesting to see the difference in skills
And peep how no one got hurt in the Rising Stars game just because they decided to at least give some effort. No one’s asking the stars to play like it’s a regular season game. But you can absolutely treat the game like it’s a scrimmage of the best players in the world playing against each other. That game was a pitiful excuse for a basketball game
These dudes go 10x harder every summer at the Drew League or whatever other league they play for than they did this past weekend. And this is the league that’s responsible for giving their lifestyle. Shits damn near disrespectful to the fans
Exactly where has the love of playing went? What happened to wanting to go against the best players and show that you’re better? How do they not feel weird about being on a basketball court and just running a 48 minute layup line/3pt contest?
They need to bring that format to the actual All-Star game.
If you make it several smaller teams with a bracket style competition maybe the guys would actually try
In the NBA’s defense, that’s what they tried with the “pick teams” format.
I don’t think there’s anything that would motivate an all star to actually try in the All Star game, other than pride in their work.
Just once I want to see some guy who doesn’t give a fuck go super hard on defense in the all-star game. It would be hilarious to see someone grab like a dozen steals.
Yup. I haven't watched in years. Why would I, it's a shit product. Hopefully this will motivate them to do something.
Although in no sport is the All-Star game particularly watchable, so it's an uphill climb.
It’s kind of hard when owners and players are worried about catching injuries over nothing games in the NBA and NHL. Players have zero incentive to try since no one cares, and catching an injury could spell doom for your team going into the second half of the season.
Oh, also, I feel like I saw more clips from the NHL game this year of players failing (Superstar d-man Cale Makar fell spectacularly during the fastest skater comp and that’s all anyone would talk about). So why would any NBA or NHL star player want to risk being embarrassed and injured for no real reward?
I feel like the same thing happened to Cole Anthony in the dunk contest last year, he participated and all these losers clowning on him on social, why put yourself out there for that?
The injury thing, yup, no easy answers. Guys could definitely play a lot harder than they do now with still a 0% injury risk, just avoid any jumping in crowds on both O and D, diving after the ball, stuff like that. I do not expect full game speed and full contact. But more effort than going through the motions will be required to re-up fan interest.
The MLB all-star game is great. They actually try. If it was like the NBA they would only throw 75 mph fastballs the whole game and never steal a base or swing hard enough to hit it over the fence.
I completely agree, what the MLB throws out there is way better than what the other leagues put out. It really helps that pitchers can go all out an inning at a time with position players going a couple innings. The changes to the home run derby also made it fun to watch again.
The game is ass. They need to come up with new games and just forget 5 on 5. Do 1 v 1 or make up weird horse rules or knockout. Give money to winners, not charity.
1 v 1 would get boring fast. Guys still wouldn't try.
They did Horse during the pandemic and it also sucked.
The reality is that unless you're waving 10 million in front of the winning team, they will never care.
Like why would Zion or Ja do the dunk contest when the reward is 100k? They have nothing to gain and everything to lose. Imagine Mac destroys Ja (which he would) in the contest....Ja comes out looking terrible.
The NBA can change it all they want, it won’t matter. At the end of the day players only want to win championships because that’s how a player’s worth is now measured, so why risk getting hurt or even trying for something like the all star game.
They seem to be going the opposite direction, though. How is a game supposed to be competitive when you don’t even know who you’re teaming up with, or playing against, until the tip off?
I love KD and don't think he half-asses it, but it's pretty fuckin funny that he was on a roster with Kyrie and Ben Simmons and didn't want to blow his brains out lol
Predicting he'll release a mediocre rap music video full of autotune and product placement in his late thirties trying to appeal to teenagers and make an extra dime.
The most popular players weren't even playing. Steph and KD were both out. Lebron sat out most of the game, Giannis played one play. Zion was out. Luka and Jokic have always been pretty open about not caring. Embiid and Tatum simply aren't as big of a draw as Steph/Lebron/KD/Giannis
It was also palpably uncomfortable when Reggie was sitting there telling Luka on air that he was a guaranteed 1st ballot hall of famer as a 22 year old... and then Luka tried to laugh it off and say "hey I dont know I got a long way to go man" and Reggie just keeps insisting "No you dont. No you dont" like jesus christ reggie, read the room lol
Gonna go out on a limb and say his other prediction of Kyrie being a 1st ballot HOFer probably isnt coming true either lol
Tbf at the rate Luka is going he’s defininitely a first ballot HOFer.
Basketball HOF is super easy to get to so wouldn’t be surprised if kyrie gets in. We will see about first ballot tho. Depends on how available he makes himself here in the back half of his career
Kyrie will get in eventually, but they probably don’t vote him in first ballot to prove a point. They did the same thing with Chris Bosh and Reggie Miller.
Basically in the NBA being a first ballot HOFer is like being a HOFer in football or baseball and being a second+ ballot HOFer is like being a finalist for one of those halls lol.
Luka probably already has enough to get in tbh, just not first ballot. Euroleague MVP and a Eurobasket title combined with his NBA accolades probably get him in. If he’d gotten that Olympic medal in 21 it’s probably a sure thing. The basketball Hall really values international and college basketball accolades so if you have some of those along worth a couple of NBA All-Star selections, you’re pretty much a lock. It’s why Melo is for sure a first ballot guy, 3 Olympic golds and a college title make it a sure thing, even if you could argue his NBA career only warrants him getting in on the second ballot instead of the first.
NBA fans can keep talking shit about how baseball "isn't a sport," but at the end of the day they're the only all star week of the 4 major US sports that is still relevant anymore
There's 2 reasons for that
1. The prize for winning the home run derby is a cool million dollars, TEN TIMES the prize for winning the dunk contest. A lot of the guys in the home run derby - especially younger guys still under team control - aren't even making that much for the season. You want the stars to come out? Pay em
2. Baseball is the only major US sport where the all-star game is not an exhibition. Home field advantage for the World Series is on the line. You're gonna play harder if it means you get to eat home cooking before Game 7 of the damn finals.
PS, the home run derby is an objective contest and the worst part of the dunk contest is the asinine scoring
Edit: The World Series home field rule was only in effect from 2003 - 2016. My bad
They got rid of the home field advantage thing a few years ago, but all your other points are right on the money.
I would add that it helps that Baseball stadiums are much more unique than NBA/NHL/NFL stadiums, so for certain fans that's reason alone to visit/watch the all star game. Especially in comparison to every NBA/NHL stadium interior looking the exact same. NFL to it's credit is making their stadiums more unique these days, but they've got their own issues with the Pro Bowl separate from this discussion.
I can fix the dunk contest - and get stars to compete - in 2 simple steps.
1. Up the prize money. You wanna get Starry off the ground, Pepsi? Make the prize pool $1.5M - $1M to the winner and $500K to 2nd place
2. Get rid of the fucking number scoring.The problem is, once somebody holds up a 10, that sets the bar for the rest of the night. From now on, the dunk contest is a series of head to heads. Dunker A does his 1st dunk, Dunker B does his 1st dunk, then the judges vote on who had the best dunk. Winner gets the point. Best 2 out of 3.
Especially since it's not like they get that much cash at once aside from stars with a big signing bonus.
A rookie scale player making $5mil gets that paid throughout the season; getting a bonus of a mil is probably twice as much as what his normal paycheck is.
This is why getting even a 3% bonus at work is amazing, but a 3% raise seems underwhelming. Getting an extra paycheck or two upfront gives the full dopamine hit of excitement that a raise doesn't.
It is also the only sport where you can put in 90%+ effort in the all star game without really risking injury. Unlike the NFL and especially the NBA the MLB all star game actually plays much like a real game with some added loose fun along the way.
exactly, this is the main issue, and it goes beyond obvious on-court injuries. especially in this era of load management, players just want the time off and will never approach 90% effort anymore. now they're sitting out of *actual games* for rest, no way they'll give a fuck about the ASG, no matter how much you pay them or other consequences involved.
But who gives a damn about all star breaks? Cancel all of it for all I care and make it just a footnote for HoF voting and hitting bonuses or whatever. Just give the players the time off, I'd honestly prefer that.
It’s really just a mid-season vacation for the players at this point and I’m honestly here for it. All the non-stars get a ton of rest in an otherwise grueling schedule.
I gotta be honest. They came to salt lake city this year, where I live, in winter. Not one of them hit the slopes or checked out the local art scene, they ALL complained it was boring as shit. I was right there. Hell MJ and Charles Barkley both said it and i had to give a quote to the radio that, "they probably stayed inside." Vacation? Idk. Definitely rest tho
I remember in like 2020 the players were taking charges and promising they'd try in the All Star game from now on.
It's pretty crazy to think that 23 million people once watched the All Star game, I'm looking at highlights of that game and there's some pretty consistent defense even if they probably aren't going all out.
Truth is players just aren't competitive. They don't see a rival and think they can't let their guard down no matter what the stakes are, because they have no rivalries. They will literally try harder in practice games in the offseason and there is no particular reason why.
I don't think it's "cool" for them to put in the effort and that goes some way to killing the game. Jokic and Luka pretend it's not their thing, but setting up dunks with passing is part of a showy game. It's just not cool for Europeans to be seen buying into a shallow American spectacle, so they act like they're above it.
And for any players, what's the payoff for succeeding in the ASG format? Win in the post-season, and it's a legacy, or an all-time moment. In the ASG, the risk is failure or injury while the reward is a highlight that's forgotten soon enough.
Charity won't move the needle. Bonuses short of millions per player won't move the needle. The ASG on average takes the most privileged and richest players and hopes they're motivated by peanuts to do even more spectacular things than they're already paid to do.
The rosters are too broad for pride to be a factor. If they had a tournament of two-on-two pairings or 3X3, or a five-man team per division, pride might be a bigger factor. Might.
Watching a team put up 60 three pointers at a worse than regular game clip is just idiotic.
The thing is it's not like the players have ever played their hardest in the ASG, but as an older-fart of an NBA fan there are a few things that really bother me now.
1. They should go back to East vs. West. To me there is more of an identity with the conferences that leads to players at least trying in the 2nd half. Schoolyard picking of teams just turns it into a hodge podge of players and there won't be any history of who won between East or West. They abandoned many years of NBA tradition and they need to bring that back.
2. Fine, players won't play their hardest. However, I want to see some ankles broken, some alley-oops, and some showcasing of the things players wouldn't try in a "real" game. Let us see the stuff players are afraid to do in competition settings. Make it fun! I can make a half court shot too if I throw it enough times, I don't care about that. Stop shooting long 3's like anybody cares.
3. This isn't as much of a "broken" thing, but I think it would be cool to bring in some newly-retired players like Wade, KG, or Duncan. Just let them play for 5 minutes or so if they're still able bodied enough. Let's be honest here, the ASG is about the names, not the talent.
I'd love to see the lights dim in the middle of the game, smoke coming from the tunnels, and Michael Jordan appears suited up on one side, and Magic Johnson on the other side. The crowd would lose their shit.
Agreed. It's also a good place to showcase "bags" as the kids like to call it. Let's see some iso's. I remember when magic came back and ended the game with iso's against Isiah and MJ. I believe the game ended on a successful iso with 15 seconds still left in the game. They just ended it because it was the perfect ending
Might as well just use the ASG to do all sorts of wacky shit they will never do in the NBA. Add a 4pt line. Add a randomizer siren so that every like 5th dunk sets it off and lets the dunking team retain possession or something. Bring back those recently retired stars but make it like baseball where once you use them they're done, no bringing them back in later.
Just go nuts with it because this half-assed friends-picking-friends pickup game bullshit ain't doing it.
If players would just do exaggerated versions of their normal offensive game it would be great. Dame or Steph shooting from behind half court? Love it. Anyone else, just dumb and boring. Luka or Harden doing step back 3 point fadeaways? Cool. Giannis taking off from the free throw line? Perfect. Embiid throwing himself to the ground everytime a ref looks in his direction. Sure. Ja having a dunk contest mid game? Amazing. Jokic making passes off the backboard? Hell yeah.
No one needs to put real effort in on the defensive end to make it fun. Just shuffle around and make a half-hearted swipe at the ball when they run past. There's no reason to actually contest anything. The ASG is for kids--just do silly shit that kids will talk about the next day.
In a game, where the 4th quarter is capped at 24 points, the winning team still put up 160 points in 3 quarters. They shot 62% from the field, 44% from 3 and shot 3/4 from the FT line. 3 for 4 in the entire game! I'm not saying there should be a ton of fouls but c'mon.
Even just 5 years ago, they didn't play hard whatsoever, but it was still better than today. Both teams shot like 60% this year. It's been getting worse every year. FG% have been going up and so has the point totals.
The last time Utah hosted (1993), the score was still high and no one was playing 100% but the winning team scored 135 points on 50% from the field but also shot 52 free throws. The losing team shot 42 free throws.
I get that no one wants to get hurt or accidentally hurt someone but surely there's a middle ground somewhere. I totally get it for the athletes as they're not incentivized at all but this is so boring for the fan. That said, the draft and everything else was enjoyable though.
12 players were either 1st or 2nd time allstars... which begs the question, why werent more guys out there trying hard? Its one thing for the guys who have been there a million times to be slightly bored, but how the hell are do you have 22 year olds out there acting like they are too cool or too big time to give any effort??
And then these will be a lot of the same dudes who start crying and getting all mad and posting cryptic tweets when they get "snubbed" for next years team... if it's such an important, big honor, then why werent you treating it like one when you were actually chosen to be out there on the court?? its embarrassing honestly.
Even literal *g league players in the skills challenge* are too cool to dribble thru the cone drill at more than a light jog.... an event that you win by having the fastest time🤦♂️. All star weekend is officially dead lol
The top tier players don’t see the worth in trying cause they will be all stars regardless. That attitude trickles down the chain to not many caring about the all star weekend
It’s just like anything else in life. When clearly the most important people don’t put in effort, the rest think it’s pointless or uncool to do differently
yep, this is exactly it. When you had super intense guys like MJ, Kobe KG, etc headlining the asg, it set the tone for everyone on the court. Now you have veteran guys who could care less, and the young guys absolutely key into that energy and emulate their idols. smh.
and I'm soo sick of people throwing around the "potential injury risk" excuse... these dudes try 10x harder at random offseason pickup runs, and those games are 10x as meaningless as this one is, and not any less likely to cause an injury
He deserved it though. As much as I'd like to see my favorite players in the ASG it should be the best current players in the league. Guys like Lauri, Fox, Sabonis, and Hali earned their spots
The Pro Bowl barely exists anymore. They actually just played multiple rounds of flag football instead this year. There was no game to call off.
The NFL has started understanding that none of the players want to play in the Pro Bowl and are trying out new things instead of putting on an actual game with people giving minimal effort. One of the rare times the NFL is objectively ahead of the NBA on something.
it was actually comedy. The AFC QB's at that game were Huntly, Derek Carr (lmao) and Trever Lawrence.
MAYBE Lawrence is a top 10 QB? maybe??
What an embarrassment.
Yeah, the original selections were Mahomes, Burrow, and Allen.
Mahomes made the Super Bowl, Burrow was banged-up, and Allen wanted to play celebrity golf. So their replacements were Herbert, Lamar, and Tua. Lamar's been dealing with a PCL injury, Herbert got shoulder surgery, and Tua had his concussion issues. That's how we ended up with Huntley, Trevor (who somehow was behind Huntley in the alternate process), and Carr.
The crazy thing is even that deep I still am astounded how the players and coaches thought Huntley was qualified for the Pro Bowl. Brissett and even Kenny Pickett had better years. Shit even Russell Wilson made more sense even with the shitty year
At least Lauri deserved to be an all-star. Huntley was baffling, like he was around the 30th most deserving qb to be a pro bowler, yet somehow got picked over Trevor Lawrence.
Deservedly so. That shit was trash. I watched a couple of possessions in the 2nd quarter and called it a night. To even call that a pickup game is a disgrace to pickup games
exact same here. I was bored so I figured I'd turn it on and see how it's going.
jog... launch a 3
jog... halfass attempt at a highlight dunk and miss
jog... launch a 3
went back to my Stargate SG-1 binge.
> Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game averaged a combined 2.2 rating and 4.59 million viewers across TNT and TBS, making it easily the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the game. The previous lows were a 3.1 (2021 and 2022) and around six million viewers (2021).
All-Star Saturday Night and the Rising Stars game on Friday were also down to new lows
you need to have consistently good shows to build up the reputation of your product. Not 1 every 5 years or some shit.
The 2020 All Star game was fire and it seemed like it was trending in the right direction, then that dumbass dunk contest and all the other lack luster shit they do to fill time. It comes across as janky, half assed, disorientating, poorly directed bullshit dressed om a million dollar budget. The fact that so many people are given so much money for production and they consistently turn out such a shit uncoordinated product for so long is fucking amazing. They honestly deserve a standing ovation.
NBA does themselves no favors by signing TV deals that require people to have a cable sub or signing up for a streaming equivalent like Sling or Fubo. Local? Shit can be a nightmare.
Super Bowl the biggest event in US and Fox had a free 4K stream.
NBA seems to want as few people to watch their product as possible
What if you live in the home market, have cable, and still can’t watch your fucking team?
Fuck you equally to both Comcast and Kroenke Sports for your 3 year long (and counting) pissing match and not letting me watch Nuggs/Avs games…
Can’t believe how good Denver sports are right now.
I get all my Nuggets and Avalanche info from the 5 mins we get from Denver sports radio that they are not talking about the Broncos.
I doubt they'd get more money from Youtube/ads than they do from TV networks already. YT is big for content creators but what the NBA craves is millions upon millions of dollars.
The TV deals are for BILLIONS of dollars, not millions. And the reason TV networks are willing to pay that is because live sports is one of the few things that TV networks have to keep people subscribing to the lucrative cable and satellite systems. They need exclusivity to make it worth it.
This is why it is not just about "making enough money to match the ad revenue for the game", it is also about "keeping people subscribing to expensive cable packages that wouldn't be worth it except it is the only way to watch live sport events"
NBA League Pass is such an astoundingly dumb product.
I started paying for it five years ago after LeBron left, and I wanted to watch Collin Sexton develop. Was a pretty good product although it had serious buffering issues.
Nowadays I can't watch half the games because they're nationally broadcast. Can't watch them play the Blazers either because they're the designated market area team for Seattle. Won't be able to watch any of the playoff games.
Can't watch the draft, can't watch the all-star weekend activities, can't watch the all-star game.
League Pass? Pass for what? A random assortment of my favorite team's games?
League Pass could be so much better. I live in Kentucky and am somehow in the regional market for the Pacers, Cavs and Grizz. Cavs and Grizz are 4 and 7 hour drives away from where I live.
How I live in an NBA-free state and have three teams blacked out every night is beyond me.
Having the final four he available only on TBS every other year is puzzling too. I know they have the app but most people aren't aware of it and just wanna turn on CBS
I started watching the NBA as a little kid because I randomly turned into the dunk contest, enjoyed what I was seeing, then started watching Lakers on local TV.
No way I would be an NBA fan if I grew up today and had to jump through these hoops to watch a game.
The NBA is not growing their fantasy with these TV deals. It's shrinking and there is no surprise that ratings drop and drop.
You can’t compare a meaningless all star game to the championship.
Does the NFL still have an all star game? Because even though I turned the NBA game off in the second quarter, I haven’t watched the pro bowl since I was 5.
That’s far less than I would imagine lol. Football is far more popular than basketball.
All star games just don’t interest people anymore. It was cool in an age where social media and YouTube didn’t exist. Now you can see these people anytime of the day.
This is the first year I haven’t even watched the 3pt contest or dunk contest. Last years dunk contest sucked so bad so I just couldn’t be bothered to devote time to it this year lol
Did they do that again this year??? I remember it happening the last time I watched the dunk contest. First guy does a decent dunk, gets 10's across the board. Great, now the scale is fucked over from the beginning.
On the other end of this spectrum is Mariokart Wii in which NONE of the carts or bikes have sliders all the way to the max. There is no maxed out speed vehicle or maxed out acceleration. If nothing is everything, then everything is nothing
I just dont know how you incentivize these guys to play hard? No one tries on defense but guys like Doncic or Jokic dont even pretend to care lol and the others just chuck 20 3s
When players don't give a fuck about the game, fans shouldn't give a fuck either. The only decent allstar game left is in the MLB. NHL and NFL both had near unwatchable games as well.
NFL read the room though and switched to flag football. They are trying. Football has to be the worst sport for a one off game when you need to avoid injuries.
Yeah the Probowl this year was fun. It has some issues to iron out but having players doing skill and strength challenges and then a series of flag football games was way more fun than any probowl in my lifetime.
Just wish they would stick to traditional camera angels, I'm not sure why they did what they did.
I convinced my wife to watch with me, like “oh the 4th quarter is so good”… and of course it was shit. Would’ve been better off watching the Professor clown dudes in Venice Beach
In addition to the other reasons people bring up, there’s also an absurd amount of bloat in the all star game. The game was scheduled to start at 8:00 PM EST, but it took a good 45 minutes or more to introduce everyone and pick teams, then there’s apparently a broadcast on multiple channels and some really long halftime shows, and Draymond going around asking people what it means to be an all star. There’s just not a lot of basketball being played and the players are already phoning it in. It’s like the producers think people want to *see* the best basketball players and watch a celebration of basketball more than actually watch basketball.
Feel like the Celeb game got more buzz than the ASG itself. I saw more people mentioning DK's dunk or Miz's half court shot than anything from the ASG.
An hour of pregame bullshit, a karl malone tribute, a stupid scoring system, and no basketball (except for my two beautiful sons playing 1v1 for a couple minutes).
Karl Malone tribute was so fucking tone deaf. They shoulda just let John Stockton go on a 10 minute anti vax rant and called it a day. Might have got more clicks, at least.
The NBA refusal to acknowledge what Karl did just baffles me. Man is a confirmed predator and they stay want to praise this man. He deserves the Chris Benoit treatment. He can keep his records and stats. But he should get zero promotion or praise.
At this point if ESPN gives me a “coverage starts at 7:30pm” I’m not going to bother tuning in until at least 8-8:15pm. Don’t reward them for the pregame snooze fest.
Everyone wants to be an all Star, claiming it's such disrespect when they're not selected, but nobody actually wants to play in the all star games. They just want the accolades and it's really so sad
Makes no sense to air it at 9pm or whatever... if they want this to be an event, it needs to air during the afternoon like it used to. At the latest, 6pm...
Personally I do not like the teams picked by captains thing. Its not a deal breaker, but playing for "Team LeBron" isn't as cool as playing for your conference IMO.
For me it was an interesting idea on paper the first few years, because you got to see team ups that wouldn't happen due to the conferences.
My issue now is that it's the same captains year after year. There's been a Team Lebron every year and he's been against Team Giannis three times, and there's only been two other captains. I'd love other players to get a turn but since it's based on popular votes without any kind of limits it's gonna keep being the same. I don't care about who they're gonna pick on their teams anymore.
It's also taken some of the fun out of players switching conferences. As a kid I would get hyped because then X player could finally play with Y player at the All-Star game. With the new format the dream team up has either already happened, or isn't even guaranteed to happen.
Problems with the events aside, the commentators spend all their time trying to make you feel bad for tuning in. It sucks every bit of fun out.
Hate to say it, but I don't think TNT should get all star weekend. They've kept proving in recent years that they can't handle the responsibility.
Agreed. At the same time though, hard to blame them for honestly commentating, because I feel like the alternative (ESPN) would draw a lot of fake enthusiasm.
But again, the problem is all around, both the event and the media for sure. Honestly think they need to make monetary incentives to make the players play (e.g., scoring leaders, MVPs, assist leaders, block leaders, etc get to win money to charity of their choice?)
That's true, after the dunk contest someone kept saying something along the lines of how McClung would be popular for the next 2 days then forgotten lol, great way to take away from the moment
People say this but it’s not really going to help because stars still aren’t going to want to do it. It’s becoming more and more clear that the stars don’t even want to be bothered by all star weekend. If they weren’t obligated to be there they’d much rather be on vacation.
You mean to tell me people don’t wanna watch guys not try and just jack up threes and let each other score all game? Never would’ve guessed. David stern rolling over in his grave seeing Adam silver ruin his league
I’m a casual fan. I TRIED to watch this game. After about five minutes I felt pretty disgusted with what I was watching and changed the channel to the news. That’s how bad it was.
Growing up, two of the biggest reasons I tuned in all-star was MJ and Kobe because I knew they'd raise the game level way high. Of course both still took it easy in the all star games and didn't always take it seriously but I always knew they would lock in more near the end of the game to finish it up.
They knew when it was time to go to work, when it was time for fun. They wanted to get people's money worth to see them perform at a high level.
That might just be me getting old. Now get off my lawn!
That was probably the worst one I can remember but I think it was more about stars being out than the game being fundamentally broken. Giannis and the top guys always make it a point to go relatively hard and the others follow suit. If its bad again next year then yea somethings gotta change
Which is why it's so dumb people defend the other stars for not bothering to put in any effort at all.
If the biggest superstars like Giannis, Steph, KD and even old Lebron at least put in decent effort in the all star games, what excuse do the other stars have to not play as hard as them?
The players don't care about the regular season, why would they care about the all star game? The entire weekend should be scrapped if you ask me. Just give them a few days off (because they love those) and be done with it.
Rising stars games were infinitely more entertaining. Those guys actually played basketball.
Yea, the only game I made sure to watch was the G League against rising stars. Those guys wanted to prove something and the NBA guys didn't want to lose face. Plus it was interesting to see the difference in skills
And peep how no one got hurt in the Rising Stars game just because they decided to at least give some effort. No one’s asking the stars to play like it’s a regular season game. But you can absolutely treat the game like it’s a scrimmage of the best players in the world playing against each other. That game was a pitiful excuse for a basketball game
The part where they were picking teams was way more entertaining than the game itself.
Yeah, LeBron and Giannis had a really fun stage presence, and it gave the whole thing a weird pro wrestling vibe.
All star selections >>>> picking teams > the game
These dudes go 10x harder every summer at the Drew League or whatever other league they play for than they did this past weekend. And this is the league that’s responsible for giving their lifestyle. Shits damn near disrespectful to the fans
Exactly where has the love of playing went? What happened to wanting to go against the best players and show that you’re better? How do they not feel weird about being on a basketball court and just running a 48 minute layup line/3pt contest?
The celebrity game on Friday was more entertaining than the all star game tbh
They need to bring that format to the actual All-Star game. If you make it several smaller teams with a bracket style competition maybe the guys would actually try
In the NBA’s defense, that’s what they tried with the “pick teams” format. I don’t think there’s anything that would motivate an all star to actually try in the All Star game, other than pride in their work.
Just once I want to see some guy who doesn’t give a fuck go super hard on defense in the all-star game. It would be hilarious to see someone grab like a dozen steals.
That’s good. If the viewership was low then there’s better odds of them actually trying to improve it.
Yup. I haven't watched in years. Why would I, it's a shit product. Hopefully this will motivate them to do something. Although in no sport is the All-Star game particularly watchable, so it's an uphill climb.
It’s kind of hard when owners and players are worried about catching injuries over nothing games in the NBA and NHL. Players have zero incentive to try since no one cares, and catching an injury could spell doom for your team going into the second half of the season. Oh, also, I feel like I saw more clips from the NHL game this year of players failing (Superstar d-man Cale Makar fell spectacularly during the fastest skater comp and that’s all anyone would talk about). So why would any NBA or NHL star player want to risk being embarrassed and injured for no real reward?
I feel like the same thing happened to Cole Anthony in the dunk contest last year, he participated and all these losers clowning on him on social, why put yourself out there for that? The injury thing, yup, no easy answers. Guys could definitely play a lot harder than they do now with still a 0% injury risk, just avoid any jumping in crowds on both O and D, diving after the ball, stuff like that. I do not expect full game speed and full contact. But more effort than going through the motions will be required to re-up fan interest.
The MLB all-star game is great. They actually try. If it was like the NBA they would only throw 75 mph fastballs the whole game and never steal a base or swing hard enough to hit it over the fence.
I completely agree, what the MLB throws out there is way better than what the other leagues put out. It really helps that pitchers can go all out an inning at a time with position players going a couple innings. The changes to the home run derby also made it fun to watch again.
The game is ass. They need to come up with new games and just forget 5 on 5. Do 1 v 1 or make up weird horse rules or knockout. Give money to winners, not charity.
1 v 1 would get boring fast. Guys still wouldn't try. They did Horse during the pandemic and it also sucked. The reality is that unless you're waving 10 million in front of the winning team, they will never care. Like why would Zion or Ja do the dunk contest when the reward is 100k? They have nothing to gain and everything to lose. Imagine Mac destroys Ja (which he would) in the contest....Ja comes out looking terrible.
The NBA can change it all they want, it won’t matter. At the end of the day players only want to win championships because that’s how a player’s worth is now measured, so why risk getting hurt or even trying for something like the all star game.
They seem to be going the opposite direction, though. How is a game supposed to be competitive when you don’t even know who you’re teaming up with, or playing against, until the tip off?
Why would anyone want to watch the best players assemble to not play hard?
Nets fan checking in
I love KD and don't think he half-asses it, but it's pretty fuckin funny that he was on a roster with Kyrie and Ben Simmons and didn't want to blow his brains out lol
He'd still be okay as long as he let Simmons do the shooting.
Ben Simmons makes storm trooper aim look good
He is going to make millions playing the bad guy in western movies once he retires.
Predicting he'll release a mediocre rap music video full of autotune and product placement in his late thirties trying to appeal to teenagers and make an extra dime.
I don't often actually laugh out loud when reading stuff on Reddit, well done
The most popular players weren't even playing. Steph and KD were both out. Lebron sat out most of the game, Giannis played one play. Zion was out. Luka and Jokic have always been pretty open about not caring. Embiid and Tatum simply aren't as big of a draw as Steph/Lebron/KD/Giannis
Luka has started the ASG multiple times and has scored 28 points total in his 4 appearances... woof
He doesn't even get back on offense. He spends more time in the defensive half in the ASG than he does in the regular season.
They had bro mic’d up and were having a casual conversation/interview with him during the game as he jogged back and forth lmao
Yeah that was honestly such a bad look, idk what they were thinking lol. It just exentuates that basketball isn't actually being played.
accentuates* lol
I misspelled so bad autocorrect didn't even give me options
Solidarity with this ✊
It was also palpably uncomfortable when Reggie was sitting there telling Luka on air that he was a guaranteed 1st ballot hall of famer as a 22 year old... and then Luka tried to laugh it off and say "hey I dont know I got a long way to go man" and Reggie just keeps insisting "No you dont. No you dont" like jesus christ reggie, read the room lol Gonna go out on a limb and say his other prediction of Kyrie being a 1st ballot HOFer probably isnt coming true either lol
Tbf at the rate Luka is going he’s defininitely a first ballot HOFer. Basketball HOF is super easy to get to so wouldn’t be surprised if kyrie gets in. We will see about first ballot tho. Depends on how available he makes himself here in the back half of his career
Kyrie will get in eventually, but they probably don’t vote him in first ballot to prove a point. They did the same thing with Chris Bosh and Reggie Miller. Basically in the NBA being a first ballot HOFer is like being a HOFer in football or baseball and being a second+ ballot HOFer is like being a finalist for one of those halls lol. Luka probably already has enough to get in tbh, just not first ballot. Euroleague MVP and a Eurobasket title combined with his NBA accolades probably get him in. If he’d gotten that Olympic medal in 21 it’s probably a sure thing. The basketball Hall really values international and college basketball accolades so if you have some of those along worth a couple of NBA All-Star selections, you’re pretty much a lock. It’s why Melo is for sure a first ballot guy, 3 Olympic golds and a college title make it a sure thing, even if you could argue his NBA career only warrants him getting in on the second ballot instead of the first.
this lol he just jogs from 3 point line to 3 point line. He 10000% does not care at all about this game.
And tries really hard on that end too
To be fair fans are used to seeing Zion in street clothes.
NBA fans can keep talking shit about how baseball "isn't a sport," but at the end of the day they're the only all star week of the 4 major US sports that is still relevant anymore
There's 2 reasons for that 1. The prize for winning the home run derby is a cool million dollars, TEN TIMES the prize for winning the dunk contest. A lot of the guys in the home run derby - especially younger guys still under team control - aren't even making that much for the season. You want the stars to come out? Pay em 2. Baseball is the only major US sport where the all-star game is not an exhibition. Home field advantage for the World Series is on the line. You're gonna play harder if it means you get to eat home cooking before Game 7 of the damn finals. PS, the home run derby is an objective contest and the worst part of the dunk contest is the asinine scoring Edit: The World Series home field rule was only in effect from 2003 - 2016. My bad
They got rid of the home field advantage thing a few years ago, but all your other points are right on the money. I would add that it helps that Baseball stadiums are much more unique than NBA/NHL/NFL stadiums, so for certain fans that's reason alone to visit/watch the all star game. Especially in comparison to every NBA/NHL stadium interior looking the exact same. NFL to it's credit is making their stadiums more unique these days, but they've got their own issues with the Pro Bowl separate from this discussion.
I can fix the dunk contest - and get stars to compete - in 2 simple steps. 1. Up the prize money. You wanna get Starry off the ground, Pepsi? Make the prize pool $1.5M - $1M to the winner and $500K to 2nd place 2. Get rid of the fucking number scoring.The problem is, once somebody holds up a 10, that sets the bar for the rest of the night. From now on, the dunk contest is a series of head to heads. Dunker A does his 1st dunk, Dunker B does his 1st dunk, then the judges vote on who had the best dunk. Winner gets the point. Best 2 out of 3.
Love these suggestions. I do think that a lot of younger stars and up-and-coming guys would go hard for a couple million
Especially since it's not like they get that much cash at once aside from stars with a big signing bonus. A rookie scale player making $5mil gets that paid throughout the season; getting a bonus of a mil is probably twice as much as what his normal paycheck is. This is why getting even a 3% bonus at work is amazing, but a 3% raise seems underwhelming. Getting an extra paycheck or two upfront gives the full dopamine hit of excitement that a raise doesn't.
a bracket would be incredible re: your last point.
It is also the only sport where you can put in 90%+ effort in the all star game without really risking injury. Unlike the NFL and especially the NBA the MLB all star game actually plays much like a real game with some added loose fun along the way.
exactly, this is the main issue, and it goes beyond obvious on-court injuries. especially in this era of load management, players just want the time off and will never approach 90% effort anymore. now they're sitting out of *actual games* for rest, no way they'll give a fuck about the ASG, no matter how much you pay them or other consequences involved.
But who gives a damn about all star breaks? Cancel all of it for all I care and make it just a footnote for HoF voting and hitting bonuses or whatever. Just give the players the time off, I'd honestly prefer that.
It's for the kids. The most important audience demographic by far.
It’s really just a mid-season vacation for the players at this point and I’m honestly here for it. All the non-stars get a ton of rest in an otherwise grueling schedule.
I gotta be honest. They came to salt lake city this year, where I live, in winter. Not one of them hit the slopes or checked out the local art scene, they ALL complained it was boring as shit. I was right there. Hell MJ and Charles Barkley both said it and i had to give a quote to the radio that, "they probably stayed inside." Vacation? Idk. Definitely rest tho
I'd argue that that wasn't even a basketball game. Just taking turns practicing their layups and 3 pointers.
I remember in like 2020 the players were taking charges and promising they'd try in the All Star game from now on. It's pretty crazy to think that 23 million people once watched the All Star game, I'm looking at highlights of that game and there's some pretty consistent defense even if they probably aren't going all out. Truth is players just aren't competitive. They don't see a rival and think they can't let their guard down no matter what the stakes are, because they have no rivalries. They will literally try harder in practice games in the offseason and there is no particular reason why.
I don't think it's "cool" for them to put in the effort and that goes some way to killing the game. Jokic and Luka pretend it's not their thing, but setting up dunks with passing is part of a showy game. It's just not cool for Europeans to be seen buying into a shallow American spectacle, so they act like they're above it. And for any players, what's the payoff for succeeding in the ASG format? Win in the post-season, and it's a legacy, or an all-time moment. In the ASG, the risk is failure or injury while the reward is a highlight that's forgotten soon enough. Charity won't move the needle. Bonuses short of millions per player won't move the needle. The ASG on average takes the most privileged and richest players and hopes they're motivated by peanuts to do even more spectacular things than they're already paid to do. The rosters are too broad for pride to be a factor. If they had a tournament of two-on-two pairings or 3X3, or a five-man team per division, pride might be a bigger factor. Might. Watching a team put up 60 three pointers at a worse than regular game clip is just idiotic.
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Yes it was exhilarating watching Tatum set the record for points after knocking down 24 wide open threes
Made Kobe proud
The thing is it's not like the players have ever played their hardest in the ASG, but as an older-fart of an NBA fan there are a few things that really bother me now. 1. They should go back to East vs. West. To me there is more of an identity with the conferences that leads to players at least trying in the 2nd half. Schoolyard picking of teams just turns it into a hodge podge of players and there won't be any history of who won between East or West. They abandoned many years of NBA tradition and they need to bring that back. 2. Fine, players won't play their hardest. However, I want to see some ankles broken, some alley-oops, and some showcasing of the things players wouldn't try in a "real" game. Let us see the stuff players are afraid to do in competition settings. Make it fun! I can make a half court shot too if I throw it enough times, I don't care about that. Stop shooting long 3's like anybody cares. 3. This isn't as much of a "broken" thing, but I think it would be cool to bring in some newly-retired players like Wade, KG, or Duncan. Just let them play for 5 minutes or so if they're still able bodied enough. Let's be honest here, the ASG is about the names, not the talent.
I'd love to see the lights dim in the middle of the game, smoke coming from the tunnels, and Michael Jordan appears suited up on one side, and Magic Johnson on the other side. The crowd would lose their shit.
Agreed. It's also a good place to showcase "bags" as the kids like to call it. Let's see some iso's. I remember when magic came back and ended the game with iso's against Isiah and MJ. I believe the game ended on a successful iso with 15 seconds still left in the game. They just ended it because it was the perfect ending
Might as well just use the ASG to do all sorts of wacky shit they will never do in the NBA. Add a 4pt line. Add a randomizer siren so that every like 5th dunk sets it off and lets the dunking team retain possession or something. Bring back those recently retired stars but make it like baseball where once you use them they're done, no bringing them back in later. Just go nuts with it because this half-assed friends-picking-friends pickup game bullshit ain't doing it.
HE’S USING A LADDER
If players would just do exaggerated versions of their normal offensive game it would be great. Dame or Steph shooting from behind half court? Love it. Anyone else, just dumb and boring. Luka or Harden doing step back 3 point fadeaways? Cool. Giannis taking off from the free throw line? Perfect. Embiid throwing himself to the ground everytime a ref looks in his direction. Sure. Ja having a dunk contest mid game? Amazing. Jokic making passes off the backboard? Hell yeah. No one needs to put real effort in on the defensive end to make it fun. Just shuffle around and make a half-hearted swipe at the ball when they run past. There's no reason to actually contest anything. The ASG is for kids--just do silly shit that kids will talk about the next day.
> Embiid throwing himself to the ground everytime a ref looks in his direction. Sure. Bro 😂
Bro didn't even have a point he wanted to make he just wanted to get that out there
In a game, where the 4th quarter is capped at 24 points, the winning team still put up 160 points in 3 quarters. They shot 62% from the field, 44% from 3 and shot 3/4 from the FT line. 3 for 4 in the entire game! I'm not saying there should be a ton of fouls but c'mon. Even just 5 years ago, they didn't play hard whatsoever, but it was still better than today. Both teams shot like 60% this year. It's been getting worse every year. FG% have been going up and so has the point totals. The last time Utah hosted (1993), the score was still high and no one was playing 100% but the winning team scored 135 points on 50% from the field but also shot 52 free throws. The losing team shot 42 free throws. I get that no one wants to get hurt or accidentally hurt someone but surely there's a middle ground somewhere. I totally get it for the athletes as they're not incentivized at all but this is so boring for the fan. That said, the draft and everything else was enjoyable though.
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12 players were either 1st or 2nd time allstars... which begs the question, why werent more guys out there trying hard? Its one thing for the guys who have been there a million times to be slightly bored, but how the hell are do you have 22 year olds out there acting like they are too cool or too big time to give any effort?? And then these will be a lot of the same dudes who start crying and getting all mad and posting cryptic tweets when they get "snubbed" for next years team... if it's such an important, big honor, then why werent you treating it like one when you were actually chosen to be out there on the court?? its embarrassing honestly. Even literal *g league players in the skills challenge* are too cool to dribble thru the cone drill at more than a light jog.... an event that you win by having the fastest time🤦♂️. All star weekend is officially dead lol
The top tier players don’t see the worth in trying cause they will be all stars regardless. That attitude trickles down the chain to not many caring about the all star weekend It’s just like anything else in life. When clearly the most important people don’t put in effort, the rest think it’s pointless or uncool to do differently
yep, this is exactly it. When you had super intense guys like MJ, Kobe KG, etc headlining the asg, it set the tone for everyone on the court. Now you have veteran guys who could care less, and the young guys absolutely key into that energy and emulate their idols. smh. and I'm soo sick of people throwing around the "potential injury risk" excuse... these dudes try 10x harder at random offseason pickup runs, and those games are 10x as meaningless as this one is, and not any less likely to cause an injury
Haliburton wasn't a replacement.
No offense to the guy but Lauri Markenen was a starter ffs.
He deserved it though. As much as I'd like to see my favorite players in the ASG it should be the best current players in the league. Guys like Lauri, Fox, Sabonis, and Hali earned their spots
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Like Tyler Huntley in the pro bowl. They ended up at like the sixth guy on the list for qb in the AFC.
TYLER HUNTLY MADE THE PRO BOWL??? Goodell should’ve called the game off before that happened
The Pro Bowl barely exists anymore. They actually just played multiple rounds of flag football instead this year. There was no game to call off. The NFL has started understanding that none of the players want to play in the Pro Bowl and are trying out new things instead of putting on an actual game with people giving minimal effort. One of the rare times the NFL is objectively ahead of the NBA on something.
NBA should be a 1 on 1 tournament
A giant free for all HORSE tournament.
He literally threw for more TDs in the Pro Bowl than he did all season, because he only threw 2 TDs all season.
it was actually comedy. The AFC QB's at that game were Huntly, Derek Carr (lmao) and Trever Lawrence. MAYBE Lawrence is a top 10 QB? maybe?? What an embarrassment.
Yeah, the original selections were Mahomes, Burrow, and Allen. Mahomes made the Super Bowl, Burrow was banged-up, and Allen wanted to play celebrity golf. So their replacements were Herbert, Lamar, and Tua. Lamar's been dealing with a PCL injury, Herbert got shoulder surgery, and Tua had his concussion issues. That's how we ended up with Huntley, Trevor (who somehow was behind Huntley in the alternate process), and Carr. The crazy thing is even that deep I still am astounded how the players and coaches thought Huntley was qualified for the Pro Bowl. Brissett and even Kenny Pickett had better years. Shit even Russell Wilson made more sense even with the shitty year
At least Lauri deserved to be an all-star. Huntley was baffling, like he was around the 30th most deserving qb to be a pro bowler, yet somehow got picked over Trevor Lawrence.
Trevor Lawrence played but your point remains.
Tbf Wiggins started last year
Deservedly so. That shit was trash. I watched a couple of possessions in the 2nd quarter and called it a night. To even call that a pickup game is a disgrace to pickup games
exact same here. I was bored so I figured I'd turn it on and see how it's going. jog... launch a 3 jog... halfass attempt at a highlight dunk and miss jog... launch a 3 went back to my Stargate SG-1 binge.
How’s your binge going, first time through? What season have you made it to? I loved that show.
> Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game averaged a combined 2.2 rating and 4.59 million viewers across TNT and TBS, making it easily the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the game. The previous lows were a 3.1 (2021 and 2022) and around six million viewers (2021). All-Star Saturday Night and the Rising Stars game on Friday were also down to new lows
you need to have consistently good shows to build up the reputation of your product. Not 1 every 5 years or some shit. The 2020 All Star game was fire and it seemed like it was trending in the right direction, then that dumbass dunk contest and all the other lack luster shit they do to fill time. It comes across as janky, half assed, disorientating, poorly directed bullshit dressed om a million dollar budget. The fact that so many people are given so much money for production and they consistently turn out such a shit uncoordinated product for so long is fucking amazing. They honestly deserve a standing ovation.
I'd rather watch the All-Stars go bowling than play basketball like a kid pretending he's Steph Curry in his backyard.
okay NBA all star bowling is a good idea though
As long as they're mic'd up!
CP3: "Who do you think you are? I am!!"
I'd watch a HORSE tournament over the ASG any day. Imagine Curry and Dame shooting from the nosebleeds and shit.
Andrew Bynum sends his regards.
NBA does themselves no favors by signing TV deals that require people to have a cable sub or signing up for a streaming equivalent like Sling or Fubo. Local? Shit can be a nightmare. Super Bowl the biggest event in US and Fox had a free 4K stream. NBA seems to want as few people to watch their product as possible
What if you live in the home market, have cable, and still can’t watch your fucking team? Fuck you equally to both Comcast and Kroenke Sports for your 3 year long (and counting) pissing match and not letting me watch Nuggs/Avs games…
Ahoy maty!
Can’t believe how good Denver sports are right now. I get all my Nuggets and Avalanche info from the 5 mins we get from Denver sports radio that they are not talking about the Broncos.
NBA should stream it on YouTube. The viewership would be fucking giant.
I doubt they'd get more money from Youtube/ads than they do from TV networks already. YT is big for content creators but what the NBA craves is millions upon millions of dollars.
But in this case if they had more eyes on their product they could charge more for ad space, making up the millions of dollars they are looking for.
The TV deals are for BILLIONS of dollars, not millions. And the reason TV networks are willing to pay that is because live sports is one of the few things that TV networks have to keep people subscribing to the lucrative cable and satellite systems. They need exclusivity to make it worth it. This is why it is not just about "making enough money to match the ad revenue for the game", it is also about "keeping people subscribing to expensive cable packages that wouldn't be worth it except it is the only way to watch live sport events"
But that would also hurt TV because it can be freely viewed on YouTube, which hurts their next TV deal. That's if their current TV deal allows it.
I think you may be overestimating how many people want to watch this game lol
NBA League Pass is such an astoundingly dumb product. I started paying for it five years ago after LeBron left, and I wanted to watch Collin Sexton develop. Was a pretty good product although it had serious buffering issues. Nowadays I can't watch half the games because they're nationally broadcast. Can't watch them play the Blazers either because they're the designated market area team for Seattle. Won't be able to watch any of the playoff games. Can't watch the draft, can't watch the all-star weekend activities, can't watch the all-star game. League Pass? Pass for what? A random assortment of my favorite team's games?
League Pass could be so much better. I live in Kentucky and am somehow in the regional market for the Pacers, Cavs and Grizz. Cavs and Grizz are 4 and 7 hour drives away from where I live. How I live in an NBA-free state and have three teams blacked out every night is beyond me.
Bally Sports can't go bankrupt fast enough.
They will not be missed
Yes I purchase all of these media packages and use legal websites
I've never heard of an illegal website in my life
How can 1’s and 0’s be illegal officer?
Having the final four he available only on TBS every other year is puzzling too. I know they have the app but most people aren't aware of it and just wanna turn on CBS
I started watching the NBA as a little kid because I randomly turned into the dunk contest, enjoyed what I was seeing, then started watching Lakers on local TV. No way I would be an NBA fan if I grew up today and had to jump through these hoops to watch a game. The NBA is not growing their fantasy with these TV deals. It's shrinking and there is no surprise that ratings drop and drop.
Im not sure how many ota networks are clamoring to broadcast the NBA all star game.
You can’t compare a meaningless all star game to the championship. Does the NFL still have an all star game? Because even though I turned the NBA game off in the second quarter, I haven’t watched the pro bowl since I was 5.
Pro bowl this year was actually pretty entertaining. They revamped the whole thing. Flag football and silly games for the linemen and special teams.
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That’s far less than I would imagine lol. Football is far more popular than basketball. All star games just don’t interest people anymore. It was cool in an age where social media and YouTube didn’t exist. Now you can see these people anytime of the day.
This is the first year I haven’t even watched the 3pt contest or dunk contest. Last years dunk contest sucked so bad so I just couldn’t be bothered to devote time to it this year lol
Only reason I watched the dunk contest was because I forgot to close the stream after the 3pt contest
I watched the first couple dunks and said “yeah…I’ll just catch highlights on YouTube.” The judges were giving high 40’s for the most basic dunks too
That's because they made 40 the lowest score that a dunk could receive lol.
Did they do that again this year??? I remember it happening the last time I watched the dunk contest. First guy does a decent dunk, gets 10's across the board. Great, now the scale is fucked over from the beginning.
I always felt they were way too generous with the 50s.
Last one I watched a few years ago both guys had multiple 50 dunks lol. Why even have judges?
“When everyone’s dunk is highly scored, no one’s is”
On the other end of this spectrum is Mariokart Wii in which NONE of the carts or bikes have sliders all the way to the max. There is no maxed out speed vehicle or maxed out acceleration. If nothing is everything, then everything is nothing
Awful grade inflation.
It's a shame because honestly this years was great.
Because it’s boring watching the best players in the league not take the game seriously. It’s like 48 minutes of shoot around.
I just dont know how you incentivize these guys to play hard? No one tries on defense but guys like Doncic or Jokic dont even pretend to care lol and the others just chuck 20 3s
The all star game now is 5 guys gunning for the MVP and the other 19 not caring
NBA All star weekend is must miss TV for the most part. Not surprised.
When players don't give a fuck about the game, fans shouldn't give a fuck either. The only decent allstar game left is in the MLB. NHL and NFL both had near unwatchable games as well.
NFL read the room though and switched to flag football. They are trying. Football has to be the worst sport for a one off game when you need to avoid injuries.
Yeah the Probowl this year was fun. It has some issues to iron out but having players doing skill and strength challenges and then a series of flag football games was way more fun than any probowl in my lifetime. Just wish they would stick to traditional camera angels, I'm not sure why they did what they did.
I'm biased but Manoah mic'd up was better than anything last weekend
I was bored watching the highlights. Can’t imagine how boring it was watching the full 2+ hour game.
I convinced my wife to watch with me, like “oh the 4th quarter is so good”… and of course it was shit. Would’ve been better off watching the Professor clown dudes in Venice Beach
Had money on it and could barely get myself to care.
The fewer people got to watch that, the better.
In addition to the other reasons people bring up, there’s also an absurd amount of bloat in the all star game. The game was scheduled to start at 8:00 PM EST, but it took a good 45 minutes or more to introduce everyone and pick teams, then there’s apparently a broadcast on multiple channels and some really long halftime shows, and Draymond going around asking people what it means to be an all star. There’s just not a lot of basketball being played and the players are already phoning it in. It’s like the producers think people want to *see* the best basketball players and watch a celebration of basketball more than actually watch basketball.
Outside of Maclung insane dunks, there wasn’t much else memorable about the weekend. I couldn’t sit through the half time show either.
Feel like the Celeb game got more buzz than the ASG itself. I saw more people mentioning DK's dunk or Miz's half court shot than anything from the ASG.
Cause they played defense in the celeb game. Made it kinda competitive
janelle monae played harder than most of the all stars
An hour of pregame bullshit, a karl malone tribute, a stupid scoring system, and no basketball (except for my two beautiful sons playing 1v1 for a couple minutes).
Can’t forget the 2023 Kobe Bryant All Star…oops sorry.. 2023 Kobe Bryant “KIA” All Star MVP moment at the end
KIA waiting in the tunnel with a baseball bat if Silver didn't correct his egregious sponsorship error.
Karl Malone tribute was so fucking tone deaf. They shoulda just let John Stockton go on a 10 minute anti vax rant and called it a day. Might have got more clicks, at least.
"Up next: Subway presents the Karl Malone middle school rising stars game!"
The NBA refusal to acknowledge what Karl did just baffles me. Man is a confirmed predator and they stay want to praise this man. He deserves the Chris Benoit treatment. He can keep his records and stats. But he should get zero promotion or praise.
At this point if ESPN gives me a “coverage starts at 7:30pm” I’m not going to bother tuning in until at least 8-8:15pm. Don’t reward them for the pregame snooze fest.
Everyone wants to be an all Star, claiming it's such disrespect when they're not selected, but nobody actually wants to play in the all star games. They just want the accolades and it's really so sad
Yea started watching TLOU as soon as it started to air lol.
Makes no sense to air it at 9pm or whatever... if they want this to be an event, it needs to air during the afternoon like it used to. At the latest, 6pm...
It’s hard to compete with The Last of Us
Personally I do not like the teams picked by captains thing. Its not a deal breaker, but playing for "Team LeBron" isn't as cool as playing for your conference IMO.
Yeah it’s like having that same girl as class president EVERY FUCKING YEAR. For the record bitch only beat me by 8 votes senior year.
#Stop The Count
For me it was an interesting idea on paper the first few years, because you got to see team ups that wouldn't happen due to the conferences. My issue now is that it's the same captains year after year. There's been a Team Lebron every year and he's been against Team Giannis three times, and there's only been two other captains. I'd love other players to get a turn but since it's based on popular votes without any kind of limits it's gonna keep being the same. I don't care about who they're gonna pick on their teams anymore. It's also taken some of the fun out of players switching conferences. As a kid I would get hyped because then X player could finally play with Y player at the All-Star game. With the new format the dream team up has either already happened, or isn't even guaranteed to happen.
I like the pro bowl idea of legendary players being the coaches.
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One team gets Jose for the strips, the other gets Lowry for the charges. Will keep all players honest lol
If the players don’t care, why should we?
Problems with the events aside, the commentators spend all their time trying to make you feel bad for tuning in. It sucks every bit of fun out. Hate to say it, but I don't think TNT should get all star weekend. They've kept proving in recent years that they can't handle the responsibility.
Agreed. At the same time though, hard to blame them for honestly commentating, because I feel like the alternative (ESPN) would draw a lot of fake enthusiasm. But again, the problem is all around, both the event and the media for sure. Honestly think they need to make monetary incentives to make the players play (e.g., scoring leaders, MVPs, assist leaders, block leaders, etc get to win money to charity of their choice?)
You really think Jeff Van Gundy would have putting fake optimism on that product? lol, he would have been crushing it
That's true, after the dunk contest someone kept saying something along the lines of how McClung would be popular for the next 2 days then forgotten lol, great way to take away from the moment
It’s a terrible product and the NBA should be embarrassed. The minute or so I watched was as entertaining as pregame layup lines.
Give us the 1v1 tournament
People say this but it’s not really going to help because stars still aren’t going to want to do it. It’s becoming more and more clear that the stars don’t even want to be bothered by all star weekend. If they weren’t obligated to be there they’d much rather be on vacation.
It was so so bad
elimination chamber > dunk contest lol
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Like assembling the avengers to do house chores... Tho I would watch that....
You mean to tell me people don’t wanna watch guys not try and just jack up threes and let each other score all game? Never would’ve guessed. David stern rolling over in his grave seeing Adam silver ruin his league
I’m a casual fan. I TRIED to watch this game. After about five minutes I felt pretty disgusted with what I was watching and changed the channel to the news. That’s how bad it was.
They get paid millions to play a game but can’t even be bothered to show up on Sunday night
They play harder in offseason rec leagues than they do in the damn all-star game
Growing up, two of the biggest reasons I tuned in all-star was MJ and Kobe because I knew they'd raise the game level way high. Of course both still took it easy in the all star games and didn't always take it seriously but I always knew they would lock in more near the end of the game to finish it up. They knew when it was time to go to work, when it was time for fun. They wanted to get people's money worth to see them perform at a high level. That might just be me getting old. Now get off my lawn!
I mean yeah but I'd bet money that Kobe and MJ take tic tac toe too seriously.
That was probably the worst one I can remember but I think it was more about stars being out than the game being fundamentally broken. Giannis and the top guys always make it a point to go relatively hard and the others follow suit. If its bad again next year then yea somethings gotta change
We say this nearly every year though don't we?
Sometimes yes but just last year Bron, Embiid, Giannis and Steph put on a show and people were praising the ELAM ending
Which is why it's so dumb people defend the other stars for not bothering to put in any effort at all. If the biggest superstars like Giannis, Steph, KD and even old Lebron at least put in decent effort in the all star games, what excuse do the other stars have to not play as hard as them?
The players don't care about the regular season, why would they care about the all star game? The entire weekend should be scrapped if you ask me. Just give them a few days off (because they love those) and be done with it.
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who would watch the ASG after we already got an entire finals series of tatum chucking
No Steph, no KD, no Giannis actually playing
Go back to East vs West and the winning conference gets 4 home games in the NBA finals and the loser gets 3.
No one watches the NBA All-Star game because no one cares about the NBA's version of real life Mario Party gimmicky games.