NBA All-Star Game draws deluge of criticism for tournament format, broadcast and so much Kevin Hart

From the format to the broadcast to way too much Kevin Hart, Sunday’s NBA All-Star tournament was a resounding dud.

By the time it was over, it was hard to keep up with what critics disliked most. There was a lot to digest.

First and foremost was the new format. In the NBA’s ongoing quest to stage an All-Star contest that’s actually compelling and competitive, it hosted a three-game mini-tournament for the first and hopefully the last time.

One of the three teams didn’t even consist of All-Stars, a fact that drew the wrath of Draymond Green, who blasted the format repeatedly during TNT’s broadcast. The opening game between Team Chuck and Team Kenny provided a glimmer of hope with some competitive fire displayed by Victor Wembanyama and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in victory.

But by the end of the night, the basketball was an afterthought, with an uncompetitive championship final secondary in the minds of viewers to everything that was going wrong on their TVs.

Before the final bucket was scored, TNT’s Kenny Smith spoke for most of us and all but called the tournament format a failure.

“I think they’re gonna change the format back,” Smith said on the broadcast, just before Jayson Tatum scored the game-securing dunk.

Why so much Kevin Hart?

Making matters worse was the show around the game. While the basketball ultimately failed to prove compelling, TNT and the NBA surrounded and even interrupted game action with distracting segments and unwelcome banter from Hart.

Hart’s forced performance that featured an unfunny suggestion that Shaquille O’Neal was “dressed like a porn director” drew a deluge of slings and arrows on social media. It also prompted a thought that was previously unthinkable to devoted NBA fans. Maybe it’s a good thing that the NBA’s leaving TNT?

It wasn’t just Hart and the content of the breaks from the basketball action. It’s the fact that they existed in the first place, in copious volume.

There was the unexpected Mr. Beast promo that couldn’t be saved from its shoehorned bizarreness even with a best-case-scenario outcome.

Viewers were just left wondering why they were watching an extended timeout promotion on TV instead of, you know, a basketball game.

And then there was the out-of-nowhere tribute to the TNT broadcast crew that actually stopped gameplay. Seriously, they took an extended break during the championship game.

After Team Shaq took an 11-1 lead, they just stopped the game for a silly on-court presentation to Shaq, Chuck, Kenny and Ernie. And it was presented by — you guessed it — Kevin Hart, who brought even more cringe to the broadcast.

By the time play resumed, a full 20 minutes had passed.

I mean, we all love the “Inside the NBA” crew, and they deserve all of the accolades they receive. But they’re not going anywhere. And even if they were, the middle of a basketball game is not the time or place to pay respects.

It all added up to failure for the NBA on one of its marquee nights.

Maybe next year on NBC will be better.