The loudest conversations regarding this season’s NBA All-Star Weekend surrounded all those who weren’t pleased with what transpired. LeBron James chose not to participate, then walked out as the competition proceeded. Draymond Green gave the format a zero – on a 1-to-10 scale – and declared, “It sucks.” The annual dunk contest was won by a player who’s not even in the league. Talk host Rob Parker said WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark “ruined” the occasion by choosing not to participate in a 3-point shootout with Warriors legend Steph Curry.
Sports are supposed to be fun, right?
The All-Star Game is supposed to be a celebration.
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To be fair, there still are events and parties and fanfests and the like. But the avalanche of negativity about the central events to All-Star Weekend demonstrated that what had long been a showpiece for the NBA has devolved into perfunctory exercise that dominates the city and venue that happen to play host in a given year but entertains few who live beyond those borders.
Who ever would have thought the solution to this conundrum would be found in the NHL? Professional hockey doesn’t get much right, but the 4 Nations Face-off tournament that replaced the league’s all-star game has been a spectacular success. Not even the preposterous, indefensible decisions of the Tkachuk brothers and J.T. Miller to stage three fights in the early seconds of the United States’ showdown against favored Canada in Montreal could ruin the event. It works that well.
Just as the NFL recognized it couldn’t get football players to play football in its Pro Bowl, the NHL was forced to acknowledge that no one was interested in playing hockey in its annual all-star game. They tried a 3-on-3 tournament that didn’t hit. And so now they introduced an international tournament featuring players from the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland – and they discovered a format in which the players were eager to compete.
All of the games in advance of Monday’s U.S.A-Sweden matchup – which was meaningless because the U.S. and Canada already had clinched spots in the final – were fiercely compelling.
And it could work for the NBA, as Giannis Antetokounmpo suggested Sunday: The United States vs. the World. His idea also would involve occasionally staging the game somewhere like Paris or London, but that could be debated. It is America’s league, ultimately.
“I would love that,” Giannis said. “I think that would be the most interesting, exciting format. That would give me extra juice to compete.”
This is not to say winning such a game would be as consequential as claiming the Olympic gold medal, but consider how harrowing the United States’ semifinal against Serbia became, or how competitive it was in the gold medal game between the Americans and host France. Most important, remember how brilliant the basketball needed to be from LeBron and Steph to get their team over those considerable hurdles and onto the top of the medal stand.
I can’t imagine LeBron walking away from that version of the All-Star game, from another opportunity to assert to the world that for all the dramatic improvement players and teams have made around the world, this still is America’s Game. I can imagine that if he chose to skip it, there would be a dozen or more American superstars eager to fill that roster spot.
And what an amazing battle it would be.
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The world has done an amazing job producing elite players in the past decade: Giannis, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama and, though the U.S. certainly had a role in polishing his talent, Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. That would be a hell of a starting lineup. There is plenty in reserve, as well: Pascal Siakam of Cameroon, Alperen Sengun of Turkey, Karl-Anthony Towns, who has represented the Dominican Republic in international competition, Lauri Markkanen of Finland, Franz Wagner of Germany, Josh Giddey of Australia and OG Anunoby, who was born in the UK.
Who wouldn’t want to see that bunch in a serious game against James, Curry, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Halliburton and Jaren Jackson?
And it would be serious.
Here’s what I remember the 2024 NBA All-Star Game: I was working on the “Big Ten Basketball & Beyond” program at Big Ten Network that Sunday night, so I wasn’t free to watch the early portions of the game. We finished up on the air, I caught an Uber back to the hotel and I looked at the TV screens above the bar as I walked toward the elevator to my room.
The All-Star Game was on. The score box on the screen showed the Eastern Conference All-Stars were leading late in the fourth quarter. The score: 183-161.
When defense is a foreign concept, it’s not basketball.
The U.S. vs. the World would be as real as an Anthony Edwards slam dunk.
