This year’s NBA All-Star Game has been widely criticized, but perhaps some good ideas will come out of the weekend. Before the regular season resumes on Wednesday, let’s break down how the league can move forward.
1. What’s the best All-Star idea you’ve heard or seen coming out of the weekend?
Ben Rohrbach: USA vs. World. It was the only idea in San Francisco that jazzed the players.
“I would love to,” said San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, one of the few players who tried throughout the All-Star Game. “It’s more purposeful. There’s more pride in it. More stakes.”
“I’d love that,” added Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. “Oh, I’d love that. I think that would be the most interesting and most exciting format. I’d love that. For sure, I’d take pride in that. I always compete, but I think that will give me a little bit more extra juice to compete.”
This year’s international team could have featured Wembanyama, Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Pascal Siakam, Alperen Şengün, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyrie Irving. Luka Dončić, Franz Wagner and Jamal Murray are waiting in the wings. Not bad.
Dan Titus: Replace the unserious Skills Challenge with a 1-on-1 King of the Hill tournament with a purse of $1 million. The event should span multiple days and feature whichever rising stars or All-Stars want to participate. Rachel Nichols has already run it by several All-Stars — all with resounding support for the idea. Whether that’s smoke remains to be seen, but that would definitely inject some much-needed competition into Saturday’s festivities.
Vincent Goodwill: Just going back to East vs West. Perhaps I’m a rigid traditionalist, but all these other formats don’t do it as much. The USA/International game, I’m more open to than ever, but you’d have a real hard time finding 12 definitive international All-Stars. That’s the thing for me beyond the Jokić/Giannis/Luka/Wemby types. It’s not long before the pickings get slim.
Morten Stig Jensen: One idea that’s been floating around for a while is a return to team uniforms, which is something players themselves have an interest in. The aspect of team representation, at least in some capacity, might get players to feel more responsible to live up to the expectations of their respective fan bases, when wearing the actual night-to-night jersey they usually play in. It’s easy to hide away in a homogenous, and often plain and boring, uniform that has no shred of individuality.
(Oh, and I also like the idea of simply going back to East vs West, with all the fluff of draft, tournaments, and Kevin Hart nonsense off to the wayside.)
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2. True or False: The 3-point contest is the best All-Star event.
Goodwill: True, I guess. Only because the players participating are the names you actually know. Like Cade Cunningham isn’t the best 3-point shooter on his team, but Malik Beasley wasn’t invited (maybe he should’ve been). It’s never about the event itself, it’s about the stars participating (Craig Hodges’ 1991 showing aside). If more names were in the dunk contest, that would be the crown jewel of this, hands down.
Jensen: False? The event is … fine. But it’s routinely undermined by the fact that the best shooter literally in the history of the sport rarely participates, and thus whoever wins the event isn’t viewed as the best. In fact, not even close. I guess what I’m asking here is, what’s really the point of the competition, when we all are keenly aware that the winner isn’t even remotely close to being the best shooter in the NBA?
Rohrbach: True. It has drama built into it. Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry remains the game’s most electrifying player, and he was an incredible ambassador for the sport in the Bay Area. That influence is felt across the league, where we have seen an explosion of highly skilled shooters. Bring them all together, including Curry, add some WNBA talent to the mix, and run it back. You know you will be watching to see if those moneyballs find the net.
Titus: That’s facts. Although this year wasn’t particularly memorable, what event actually was? Each event had a main course with some unappealing sides. The commish needs to get on the horn with the W and get Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu back in the mix. Plus, bring back the OGs who’ve won it before with some name notoriety to make it more appealing to casuals and fans alike. Last thought — go back to the standard 30-point scoring system. Too many Starry shots.
3. Name the four dunk participants you’d like to see in next year’s contest.
Titus: Shaedon Sharpe, Anthony Edwards, Zion Williamson and Ja Morant. I don’t think Ant or Zion will participate, but those four are the marquee dunkers in the game right now. No shade to Zach LaVine — he’s a two-time champ with nothing to prove. It’s these young guys that need to infuse some damn creativity and save the dunk contest — without the gimmicks.
Goodwill: Zion, if healthy. Anthony Edwards (if he doesn’t have a groin injury or illness). Zach LaVine, just to defend his name and honor to the event. And either Ja Morant or Amen Thompson — really intrigued by Thompson’s freakish athleticism. Not sure how creative a guy like Ja could be in that setting. He’s a better game dunker.
Jensen: Zach LaVine, Ja Morant, Zion Williamson and Shaedon Sharpe. No props. No timer. Just let these four guys do whatever they see fit. People come to see stars — and Shaedon Sharpe — dunk with immense power and creativity. Let those guys do just that, without being measured against the weights of history.
As for judges, no social media stars. No influencers. Gimme the real legends. Mike. Nique. Vince. J-Rich. Dr. J. I don’t want to see anyone on that panel who’s never dunked a day in their own life, nor do I want to see former players who weren’t known as dunkers. If you want a dunk product, make it an actual dunk product. This ain’t hard.
Rohrbach: Amen and Ausar Thompson vs. Ja Morant and Anthony Edwards. LeBron James once said this of the Thompson twins: “They ain’t like the rest of us. I’ve been able to go against some dudes in my career, and those two guys, man, they’re pure athleticism.” When LeBron freaking James is saying that about you, you know you are an athletic freak. Pit them against Morant and Edwards, the game’s two coolest high-fliers, and you’ve got gold.
4. If the NBA added a 1v1 tournament, who would win?
Goodwill: Victor Wembanyama. Score on your man and stop your man. Nobody does that better than Wembanyama. But we need 1-on-1 rules that we see in NBA practices or USAB practices: Three dribbles or less. Watching someone dribble for 15 seconds, not really entertaining. Get to your move and see where it goes.
Rohrbach: Victor Wembanyama. He can score over and around anyone, and maybe by next year he will be able to score through anyone. More importantly, he can stop anything. I might have gone with Kyrie Irving’s insane skill set for this honor, but Antetokounmpo made me think better of it.
“Sometimes you forget, to be a good 1-on-1 player, you’ve got to be able to play both ways,” said Giannis. “You’ve got to get a stop to get the ball. You don’t get a stop, you’re not getting the ball. It’s kind of hard, say, if Kyrie Irving is going against Wemby, he’s got to get a stop.”
Jensen: Kevin Durant. Seven-feet tall, with a release point so high only Wemby can block it? And he’s got legitimate 3-point range? KD might be on the older side here, but that dude has every conceivable advantage as a scorer still, and that’s what 1v1 is all about. (If 25 or under, I’m giving Anthony Edwards a shot here.)
Titus: Victor Wembanyama. He’s young, but these old heads probably won’t even want to play. Wemby has the unique combination of size, handle, shooting and defense to dominate anyone in this setting. Your best bet is to foul him because he’ll score over anyone in a myriad of ways.
5. Any final takeaways from All-Star Weekend?
Jensen: All-Star has always been a time for celebrating the game of basketball, but instead you have former NBA players up way past their bedtime constantly complaining about the state of the game, without adding any nuance as to why the game is somehow bad.
(Spoiler alert: The game is fantastic, and it’s time for the constant negativity to end from all the old heads, half of whom don’t even know the names of half the league.)
I’d give the NBA infinity respect points if it begins to bite back and insists on bringing in players and analysts who actually understand the current game, and who can help the league deliver a presentation that also caters to young fans. Because what’s currently being offered … does not.
Titus: Restore some competition, dignity and pride to the weekend. I realize that’s the challenge with this era of hoopers, but let’s get back to basics. Start with reviving the traditional East vs. West matchup for Sunday. Give the winning team a cash prize like the In-Season Tournament, plus home-court advantage in the Finals. At least that adds some motivation. Finally, abolish the Skills Challenge and never invite Kevin Hart to host anything related to All-Star Weekend again.
Rohrbach: We need a break from drumming up ideas to fix the All-Star Game. We came up with one last season, and the NBA adopted some of it for this year’s format, but the portion they tweaked — adding Rising Stars as their own team — became the worst aspect of the event, other than that bizarre break to honor the TNT crew. The game will not be cool again until both the players take it seriously and the NBA makes it the weekend’s focal point. We can come up with as many ideas as we want, but until they take ownership of their responsibility to the game it will be a dud. Maybe once Wemby becomes the face of the league, his effort will be contagious.
Goodwill: We keep making this more complicated than it needs to be. Entertain and give the fans something compelling. Not the extra bells and whistles, because the fans know they’re being fooled and the players don’t need that either. Maybe have the players begin their All-Star obligations on Thursday, so by Saturday all they’ll have is practice and media day, then the rest of the day to chill so they’re not exhausted by Sunday. The sponsorships and appearances have gotten in the way of the game. It’s a big moneymaker for the league, but the NBA has to draw a line somewhere, too.
