Is it really broken?
I entered the NBA All-Star Weekend thinking I was a hard-boiled basketball cynic. Turns out, I’m a sucker. Apparently, everyone hated everything about the weekend in Indianapolis…except for me and the people who watched in my family room.
Here’s the weird thing — while I enjoyed the All-Star events — I didn’t love everything I saw, and I agree with a lot of the frustration being vented in the seemingly endless scroll of complaining. The dunk contest could be better. Same for the skills competition.
I had fun anyway, perhaps because my son is the real target All-Star target — a casual fan, who generally is more interested in the jokes on an NBA sub-Reddit than he is in watching regular season games. Sure, he tunes in, but mainly for the laughs. This may also be why he often hangs out when I’m suffering through Wizards games. They’re always good for some giggles.
Anyway, he had a good time all weekend watching the athleticism, skills, and general camaraderie of the game’s biggest stars. He did note that the dunkers felt more creative during the contests of his (relative) youth. And he wondered who Jacob Toppin was and why he was participating.
The worst part of the weekend was the game, of course. Half-speed offense, no-speed defense…did anyone even break a sweat? Yet somehow, even though it wasn’t remotely competitive, even though no one participating was close to being serious, the game still produced some fun moments — like the back-and-forth passing up the court to finish with a no-look touch pass between Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic, or Damian Lillard hitting a pair of half-court shots, or Jokic running up as if to dunk only to lay it in, or Doncic dunking on one possession and getting blocked by the rim on the next.
So, even though there were moments of fun, and I was generally entertained, I see the point all you haters have, and I think All-Star weekend could be more fun and entertaining. Here’s how to fix it.
First, and perhaps most important, every All-Star must participate in a Saturday night event. Sure, it’s fun to see a G Leaguer like Mac McClung win the dunk contest. But it’s All-Star weekend, and fans want to see the All-Stars doing stuff. Did I enjoy the dunk contest? Yes. Would I enjoy it more (and would a broader swath of fans be more entertained) if the contestants were Jaylen Brown, Anthony Edwards, Donovan Mitchell, and Paul George instead of Brown, Jaime Jaquez and a couple G League players? You bet.
Second, to accommodate every All-Star participating, I’d add a two-on-two tournament. Rules: make-it-take it (to inspire defensive effort), play to 15 by threes and twos, no free throws, a ref or two to call fouls and violations. I’m open on the team selection method, though I’m leaning towards random.
Third, I loved the shoot-out between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu. I loved that it came right after a three-point contest that featured stellar shooting from NBA participants, that multiple guys hit a high score of 26, and Ionescu went out and matched it. I loved that Curry needed to set a new high score for the night and did it. My thought: make this an annual event between the previous year’s NBA and WNBA three-point contest winners.
Finally, let’s fix the game. It’s clear that encouraging players to be more competitive isn’t working. Players don’t care about representing abstractions like conferences — at least not as much as they care about avoiding injury.
Instead of junking the game entirely, I have a few ideas:
- Form four six-man teams and turn All-Star into the world’s greatest pick-up game. Play to 21 by twos and threes, no free throws. Refs call fouls. Winner stays on the floor. Go for two hours, and the team with the most wins is declared the victor. Alternative: play 12-minute quarters in a double-elimination tournament format.
- Form six four-man teams (or eight three-man teams) and play games of three-on-three. Games are to 21 by twos and threes, no free throws. Play make it take it to encourage defense. I’d like it played tournament style with double elimination, but I’d be open to a straight NCAA-style lose and you’re out format.
- Play the game as it’s been played since its inception, but offer a huge winner-takes-all prize pool. I don’t know what “huge” sounds like to guys making $30-40 million a year, but what if each of the winning players got $1 million?
Or, we take a step back and consider that maybe the All-Star game isn’t for us serious fans — the type who obsess over usage rates and X closeouts and whether their favorite team is making good use of its two-way contracts. Maybe the game is for kids and casual fans to see stars in a different setting that’s dedicated to fun instead of intense competition.