Well, the game was fun while it lasted.
Folks, I know we’re in the middle of the NBA Finals. But we might have just hit a code-red situation.
It sounds like the NBA All-Star game might actually be done for.
People have been complaining about the lack of defense in the NBA All-Star game for years, but the effort was spectacularly bad this year. The score actually broke 200 points for the first time in league history. Even Adam Silver complained about it.
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Now, it sounds like he’s ready to do something about it. And that something sounds like it could be… canceling the game altogether? Yikes.
He was asked about it on ESPN’s NBA Finals Pregame show. Here’s what he had to say.
“We may be just past the point where guys and teams are incentivized to play a competitive All-Star game in the middle of the season.”
– Adam Silver on the All-Star game
(h/t @ClutchPoints )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 13, 2024
“We may be just past a point where guys and teams are incentivized to play a competitive All-Star game in the middle of the season,” Silver said. “And I don’t think any of them set out thinking we’re just not going to play hard. It’s just this, sort of, group dynamic that takes over.”
Translation: The players just aren’t going to play hard. It is what it is.
We could see the NBA going the NFL Pro Bowl route and just turning the event into a bunch of mini-games. He mentioned that the Steph Curry vs. Sabrina Ionescu shootout was the “highlight” of the weekend, and he’s right! It was.
This sounds like a man who has just run out of ideas and is ready to throw his hands up on the whole thing. Honestly, if he is, I can’t blame him.
Silver has tried a bunch of stuff already. The All-Star game draft, the Elam ending, going back to East to West. At a certain point, you just run out of ideas. It seems like we just might be at this point.
It’s sad, but that’s our reality, I guess. Here’s to more three-point shootouts in our future. Woohoo.
