The problem is that the players generally don’t care. The solution is just to round up the 10 or so women NBA stars seem to “date” exclusively and have the women declare that they will only date players from the conference that wins until the next game.
Or alternatively, the younger players being who they are, declare that the losing conference will lose video game privileges for the year.
The only way to make yourself safe from these risks, regardless of who wins the all-star game, is to individually win the dunk or 3 point contest.
People always bring up the injury risk. Has there been an injury in 75 years of all star games?
Nobody needs to hear "that's what the money is for!" more than NBA players with how much they complain about how hard it is to be a professional basketball player.
“The altered playoff formats, All-Star formats, tournaments, etc. You can argue for any of these individually, but in totality it’s a lot of noise generated by a game many Americans tuned out over the last decade. “
Is this a safe space / are we in the trust tree? I still don’t get the purpose of the in season tournament.
The purpose, ostensibly, is to juice tv ratings and fan interest. I would expect that from an upstart league or a league that wants to grow. I would not expect it from an otherwise popular legacy league that’s trying to stave off decline.
I understand the purpose from the perspective of the league (specifically financially). What I don’t understand is the mechanism by which my interest is supposed to be piqued. In college, the preseason tournaments are generally neutral sites (often a special venue) with a relatively unique collection of teams you don’t see every day/season. In this NBA variant, it’s just normal, regular season opponents, but with a tournament format with some reason it’s meaningful to win (maybe?). I don’t feel like I’ve heard any reason I should care about it as a fan other than “it’s a tournament!”
Andrew Sharp's idea to give the winner a lottery pick in the next draft was brilliant. That would make fans care. As is, there is no reason to care (like much/most/all of the regular season).
Players don’t find the game useful anymore, between over exposure and $50 million a year salaries. If there is nothing to gain, why try?
Eventually everything outlives its usefulness.
The larger picture is the NBA (and MLB) are solved games, every game is now plays similar (e.g. three, layups, pace and space), with little variety, due to maximum optimization. This is where Silver is stuck between a rock and a hard place, how to fix the game, without turning it into a gimmick. Eventually the pendulum swings back the other way, but who knows in the era of quants. NBA’s only hope, in the short term, are massive domestic star without robot personalities. Love Joker and Tatum, but they are walking walls of paint drying.
This was going to be my reply. We can see every all-star all the time. There are 10 minute game highlights of every game on YouTube. Sure, the players care less, but as a fan, I don’t care either if the West beats the East, especially since players switch conferences all the time anyway. Just be the event, and hope there’s a year where the game is close.
But hey this what this substack is for. Give us the complicated reasons:
“For a variety of complicated reasons, basketball media is especially pliant and loath to question league mandates in an era that’s seen its product decline in cultural purchase.”
Games in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 were good, memorable, and even great. The fact is sometimes you get a dud every once in a while. Literally Silver got one rotten egg in 2023 and let this thing dominate his cranium for now 3 years.
So much bigger fish to fry!! How bout basketball back in Seattle? Shorter reviews, fixing refereeing and and the abominable end of games. Cmon Adam!!
I am positive the problem with the NBA All-Star Game is that people care about the NBA All-Star Game. Nobody cares about the Pro Bowl so nobody cares if the Pro Bowl sucks. I'm not sure if this is the NBA's fault by trying to sell it as an event or the fans' fault for holding onto an antiquated concept, but either way, the problem is that there are expectations.
I am a pretty big nba fan (I watch probably 80% of the playoff games, subscribe to your boy Nate’s podcast, understand the apron rules better than I understand many things at my own job) but I haven’t watched a second of all star weekend in 20 years and can’t imagine ever watching again. Sports without stakes are just pointless to me (see much of the regular season now sadly).
I actually think Bill Simmons' idea to limit the "main" all-star game to players from top-5 seeds -- with home-court advantage on the line -- would make the game way more watchable. All of the other stars can goof around on Saturday night, but you get to see the best players caring on Sunday.
I may be in the minority on this, but I actually thought the gameplay on Sunday was pretty good. Unfortunately, the gameplay was but a fraction of the TV time Sunday night. The ridiculous starts and stops between the games – including during the final game – killed what I think otherwise would’ve been an acceptable event. Not every player was mailing it in. And there were some legitimately awesome moments involving Steph, Kyrie, Trae, Wemby, etc.
That being said, I am a proponent of the classic East v. West format. Maybe the quarters could be shorter if the concern is that the players are being physically taxed beyond what anyone (besides the fans) really wants for that event. But I think most people who are willing to tune in to the game do so because they want to see the best players in the world playing with and against each other and doing things that no one else in the world can. Some years they will try harder than others, but it’s still worth showcasing these guys in a familiar format and hoping for some magic.
What are the appeals of an All-Star game / weekend?
1. Opportunity to see all the best players
As a kid in the 1980s, I loved seeing the pre-game introductions at the baseball All Star game, and even the ones for the LCS and World Series. With no interleague play, the only time I saw AL players was here and if they were on the Game of the Week. There was play between the East and West in the NBA, but that was twice a year, and the West Coast games were on too late for East Coast people.
Now, this is pretty much irrelevant, with several nationally televised games a week, and highlights available on demand.
2. Opportunity to see stars as teammates.
Interesting to see stars interact as teammates. A star receiver with a great QB. An elite scorer with a gifted playmaker. Who gets the ball when you really need a score? Who guards the other team's best player?
This could still be an interesting aspect to the All Star Game, though with super teams it's less of a novelty to see the best players play together.
3. Opportunity to see superstar match-ups
Probably more applicable to baseball than anything else, with moments like Kruk against Randy Johnson. (again not as much of a novelty without interleague play, though it's still impressive to see a rookie pitcher strike out a series of star sluggers).
4. A marker for the halfway point of the season.
Allowing to check in on standings and individual statistics. The NBA has completed nearly 3/4 of its schedule, so this doesn't work.
5. Provide a break for the players and coaches during the season
6. Gathering of media, luminaries, venue for tributes.
----
The involvement of NBA players in international play has also eroded the novelty of seeing NBA stars playing together in novel configurations. Which is why I don't think USA vs. the World type of things would have much juice, depsite the success of the NHL is seeing now (which is also piggybacking on interesting geopolitical times).
Maybe the answer is like the NFL. Aim lower. The main appeals for any All Star game are largely gone. Maybe just consider it a break and a convention.
The platonic ideal of an all-star game are teams of star players who will never otherwise play together, playing together seriously and unlocking a level of play that otherwise would never be seen.
Fans of a certain age longed to see that Dream Team scrimmage for that reason.
I’m getting whiplash from the same people who would call Roger Goodell incompetent - saying that anyone could secure high tv rights fees for the NFL - now ignoring the same argument to defend Adam Silver.
How do you say LeBron didn’t even “bother to show up as an observer” when I literally saw him on the bench during the telecast? Do people need to hate on the man this badly that even the laziest narrative will be glommed onto if it’s negative?
My biggest beef is that I did turn in with my 8 year old who asked to watch, but we had to sit through 45 min of commercials. A band, Kevin hart and player introductions. I probably watched half of the first game betore he tuned out and we turned the channel. I don’t get why they can’t do Europe vs the US. Forget the World. Keep it regional and I’ll bet the euros could keep it interesting .
Am I crazy, or were the ratings actually surprisingly decent considering it ran up against the SNL 50 juggernaut and the White Lotus premiere? Not to mention that everyone hated the game.
I think the point about a back to basics approach is 100% true. And also, more game and less filler. People have come to HATE the filler, me being one of them. No more concert, no more Kevin Heart/Druski/whoever comedy bits. No more than the bare minimum pregame and halftime analysis. Nobody gives two shits about that. Keep it a game with the normal beats of a game. And to borrow from family guy, don't "insist upon itself". Don't tell us we're having fun and the jokes are hilarious and the musical performances are iconic. If you have to keep reminding us then we all know it's BS. Just give us 2.5 hrs of basketball and have the players play hard-ish the 4th quarter, and it'll probably be enough.
The problem is that the players generally don’t care. The solution is just to round up the 10 or so women NBA stars seem to “date” exclusively and have the women declare that they will only date players from the conference that wins until the next game.
Or alternatively, the younger players being who they are, declare that the losing conference will lose video game privileges for the year.
The only way to make yourself safe from these risks, regardless of who wins the all-star game, is to individually win the dunk or 3 point contest.
People always bring up the injury risk. Has there been an injury in 75 years of all star games?
Nobody needs to hear "that's what the money is for!" more than NBA players with how much they complain about how hard it is to be a professional basketball player.
What's interesting is...the only one I can think of is Kobe having his nose broken by D. Wade....but that has become a nice story over the years so...
Well there was Pete Rose barrelling into Ray Fosse. But that was over 50 years ago at this point.
“The altered playoff formats, All-Star formats, tournaments, etc. You can argue for any of these individually, but in totality it’s a lot of noise generated by a game many Americans tuned out over the last decade. “
Is this a safe space / are we in the trust tree? I still don’t get the purpose of the in season tournament.
The purpose, ostensibly, is to juice tv ratings and fan interest. I would expect that from an upstart league or a league that wants to grow. I would not expect it from an otherwise popular legacy league that’s trying to stave off decline.
I understand the purpose from the perspective of the league (specifically financially). What I don’t understand is the mechanism by which my interest is supposed to be piqued. In college, the preseason tournaments are generally neutral sites (often a special venue) with a relatively unique collection of teams you don’t see every day/season. In this NBA variant, it’s just normal, regular season opponents, but with a tournament format with some reason it’s meaningful to win (maybe?). I don’t feel like I’ve heard any reason I should care about it as a fan other than “it’s a tournament!”
Andrew Sharp's idea to give the winner a lottery pick in the next draft was brilliant. That would make fans care. As is, there is no reason to care (like much/most/all of the regular season).
Players don’t find the game useful anymore, between over exposure and $50 million a year salaries. If there is nothing to gain, why try?
Eventually everything outlives its usefulness.
The larger picture is the NBA (and MLB) are solved games, every game is now plays similar (e.g. three, layups, pace and space), with little variety, due to maximum optimization. This is where Silver is stuck between a rock and a hard place, how to fix the game, without turning it into a gimmick. Eventually the pendulum swings back the other way, but who knows in the era of quants. NBA’s only hope, in the short term, are massive domestic star without robot personalities. Love Joker and Tatum, but they are walking walls of paint drying.
Also we see all of these guys every night now. In the 90s there was no league pass so sometimes it was your only chance to see the guy
This was going to be my reply. We can see every all-star all the time. There are 10 minute game highlights of every game on YouTube. Sure, the players care less, but as a fan, I don’t care either if the West beats the East, especially since players switch conferences all the time anyway. Just be the event, and hope there’s a year where the game is close.
But hey this what this substack is for. Give us the complicated reasons:
“For a variety of complicated reasons, basketball media is especially pliant and loath to question league mandates in an era that’s seen its product decline in cultural purchase.”
It's a good article prompt for sure.
Games in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022 were good, memorable, and even great. The fact is sometimes you get a dud every once in a while. Literally Silver got one rotten egg in 2023 and let this thing dominate his cranium for now 3 years.
So much bigger fish to fry!! How bout basketball back in Seattle? Shorter reviews, fixing refereeing and and the abominable end of games. Cmon Adam!!
I am positive the problem with the NBA All-Star Game is that people care about the NBA All-Star Game. Nobody cares about the Pro Bowl so nobody cares if the Pro Bowl sucks. I'm not sure if this is the NBA's fault by trying to sell it as an event or the fans' fault for holding onto an antiquated concept, but either way, the problem is that there are expectations.
I am a pretty big nba fan (I watch probably 80% of the playoff games, subscribe to your boy Nate’s podcast, understand the apron rules better than I understand many things at my own job) but I haven’t watched a second of all star weekend in 20 years and can’t imagine ever watching again. Sports without stakes are just pointless to me (see much of the regular season now sadly).
I actually think Bill Simmons' idea to limit the "main" all-star game to players from top-5 seeds -- with home-court advantage on the line -- would make the game way more watchable. All of the other stars can goof around on Saturday night, but you get to see the best players caring on Sunday.
Yeah I would have agreed with Ethan if I hadn’t heard that awesome Simmons proposal.
They'll never do it but I thought he was on to something
I may be in the minority on this, but I actually thought the gameplay on Sunday was pretty good. Unfortunately, the gameplay was but a fraction of the TV time Sunday night. The ridiculous starts and stops between the games – including during the final game – killed what I think otherwise would’ve been an acceptable event. Not every player was mailing it in. And there were some legitimately awesome moments involving Steph, Kyrie, Trae, Wemby, etc.
That being said, I am a proponent of the classic East v. West format. Maybe the quarters could be shorter if the concern is that the players are being physically taxed beyond what anyone (besides the fans) really wants for that event. But I think most people who are willing to tune in to the game do so because they want to see the best players in the world playing with and against each other and doing things that no one else in the world can. Some years they will try harder than others, but it’s still worth showcasing these guys in a familiar format and hoping for some magic.
What are the appeals of an All-Star game / weekend?
1. Opportunity to see all the best players
As a kid in the 1980s, I loved seeing the pre-game introductions at the baseball All Star game, and even the ones for the LCS and World Series. With no interleague play, the only time I saw AL players was here and if they were on the Game of the Week. There was play between the East and West in the NBA, but that was twice a year, and the West Coast games were on too late for East Coast people.
Now, this is pretty much irrelevant, with several nationally televised games a week, and highlights available on demand.
2. Opportunity to see stars as teammates.
Interesting to see stars interact as teammates. A star receiver with a great QB. An elite scorer with a gifted playmaker. Who gets the ball when you really need a score? Who guards the other team's best player?
This could still be an interesting aspect to the All Star Game, though with super teams it's less of a novelty to see the best players play together.
3. Opportunity to see superstar match-ups
Probably more applicable to baseball than anything else, with moments like Kruk against Randy Johnson. (again not as much of a novelty without interleague play, though it's still impressive to see a rookie pitcher strike out a series of star sluggers).
4. A marker for the halfway point of the season.
Allowing to check in on standings and individual statistics. The NBA has completed nearly 3/4 of its schedule, so this doesn't work.
5. Provide a break for the players and coaches during the season
6. Gathering of media, luminaries, venue for tributes.
----
The involvement of NBA players in international play has also eroded the novelty of seeing NBA stars playing together in novel configurations. Which is why I don't think USA vs. the World type of things would have much juice, depsite the success of the NHL is seeing now (which is also piggybacking on interesting geopolitical times).
Maybe the answer is like the NFL. Aim lower. The main appeals for any All Star game are largely gone. Maybe just consider it a break and a convention.
The platonic ideal of an all-star game are teams of star players who will never otherwise play together, playing together seriously and unlocking a level of play that otherwise would never be seen.
Fans of a certain age longed to see that Dream Team scrimmage for that reason.
I’m getting whiplash from the same people who would call Roger Goodell incompetent - saying that anyone could secure high tv rights fees for the NFL - now ignoring the same argument to defend Adam Silver.
How do you say LeBron didn’t even “bother to show up as an observer” when I literally saw him on the bench during the telecast? Do people need to hate on the man this badly that even the laziest narrative will be glommed onto if it’s negative?
My biggest beef is that I did turn in with my 8 year old who asked to watch, but we had to sit through 45 min of commercials. A band, Kevin hart and player introductions. I probably watched half of the first game betore he tuned out and we turned the channel. I don’t get why they can’t do Europe vs the US. Forget the World. Keep it regional and I’ll bet the euros could keep it interesting .
People hate change - its why people don’t like the new White Lotus theme song which I think is great
Am I crazy, or were the ratings actually surprisingly decent considering it ran up against the SNL 50 juggernaut and the White Lotus premiere? Not to mention that everyone hated the game.
I think the point about a back to basics approach is 100% true. And also, more game and less filler. People have come to HATE the filler, me being one of them. No more concert, no more Kevin Heart/Druski/whoever comedy bits. No more than the bare minimum pregame and halftime analysis. Nobody gives two shits about that. Keep it a game with the normal beats of a game. And to borrow from family guy, don't "insist upon itself". Don't tell us we're having fun and the jokes are hilarious and the musical performances are iconic. If you have to keep reminding us then we all know it's BS. Just give us 2.5 hrs of basketball and have the players play hard-ish the 4th quarter, and it'll probably be enough.
Mentioned that on my narration. Sure the modern ratings are juiced but I thought the number would be far worse!