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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — All-star weekends across all major sports leagues have become a big deal, and for good reason.
League’s spend months and millions of dollars planning and executing All-Star weekends, filling the weekend with pomp and circumstance before the penultimate “All-Star game.”
All-star weekends give sports leagues a chance to assemble their top athletes in one city, putting the best their league has to offer on display, all to a captive audience — or at least they’d hope.
The NBA’s Eastern Conference won the 2024 all-star game, scoring an All-Star game record 211 points in the exhibition game. The game featured virtually no defense by either team, and failed to deliver a competitive basketball game.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who had promised a more competitive all-star game in 2024, was less then enthused when presenting the Eastern Conference their award at the end of the game.
“And to the Eastern Conference All-Stars, you scored the most points … well … congratulations,” Silver said.
The NBA All-Star, which has been subject to handfuls of format and rule changes over the past few years to drive competitiveness and interest in the game, fell flat again in 2024.
In 2018, the league changed from the classic Eastern v. Western conference matchup to a “schoolyard” draft — where two captains pick the players they want on their teams.
In 2020, the league moved to the “Elam Ending,” where the fourth quarter was played to a fixed score to hopefully spark stricter defense and a game-winning scenario.
Neither of these moves produced a more competitive game, and in 2024 the league decided to move back to the classic East v. West game matchup.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver promised a more competitive NBA all-star game this year, saying Saturday night “I think we’re going to see a good game.”
Joe Dumars, the NBA’s executive vice president and head of basketball operations, echoed Silver’s sentiments, saying that getting more effort out of the All-Stars was a priority.
No matter the changes the league makes to formatting the All-Star game, the quality of the game boils down to the buy-in from the league’s top players.
Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards told ESPN he will never view the all-star game as a competitive event.
“For me, it’s an All-Star Game, so I will never look at it as being super competitive,” Edwards said. “It’s always fun. I don’t know what they can do to make it more competitive. I don’t know. I think everyone looks at it … it’s a break, so I don’t think everyone wants to come here and compete.”
Los Angeles Lakers forward Anothy Davis said that players do not want to get injuried in all-star game, hindering the competiveness of the game.
“Obviously injuries are a part of the game, and no one wants to get hurt in the All-Star Game,” David said. “All these guys here are very valuable to their teams. So it’s some mixed emotions about it.”
Whether the NBA can make their All-star game more competitive or not remains to be seen, but their next chance will be in San Fransico, California in 2025.
