Changes in format, with a Draft system or the Elam Ending, have produced occasional effects, but the problem remains: the All-Star Game has become over the years a simple competition of dunks and 3-pointers. nature, where defenses no longer exist. Records explode every season, but this meeting of the stars clearly no longer has any interest.
It even becomes painful to watch, especially when we compare with the little gems offered in the 1990s or early 2000s, when this meeting was highly anticipated.
The last option to try could be a match between the best American players and the best foreign players. It has been floating in the air for a few seasons already, and with the domination of Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic or Giannis Antetokounmpo, it could make sense now.
The All-Star Game is no longer a sporting event
Journalist Michael Wilbon pitched the idea to Adam Silver before Game 3 of the Finals. “My concern about this match is perhaps that we have passed that moment where players want to play a competitive All-Star Game in the middle of the season”, replies the boss of the league.
“I don't think the players are saying they're not going to play hard, it's just a group dynamic that has taken over. We saw that the shooting contest between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu was the highlight of the weekend. So maybe we need to do things differently, being more show-oriented. People want to see players give their all, but it has to be more than a match. There is pressure on players to give their all, given the length of the season and the risk of injury. »
Comments which recall those already made by Adam Silver in March, after the event in Indianapolis. Charles Barkley had already proposed this idea, without convincing after the terrible spectacle of the 2024 edition.
“If I hadn't seen what happened this year, I think we would have been ready to change the formula, to make it a match between the United States and the rest of the world,” he explained. “But I wonder if this generation of players… And the franchises are complicit as well, because no one wants them to play hard in the All-Star Game. Nobody wants to get injured and they see it as a break in the middle of the season. »
