This past weekend was the celebration of the NBA All-Stars, a weekend for the best of the best to (somewhat) relax and show off their skills. Currently the weekend consists of the Celebrity Game, the Rising Stars Game, the Skills Competition, the Three Point Competition, the Dunk Contest, the new addition which was an HBCU Showcase and then the All Star game itself.
This year we also had the introduction of the NBA Top 75, a voted on by a blue-ribbon panel of media and current and former players, coaches, general managers and team executives. The ceremony itself was wonderful despite the list still sitting wrong with me after leaving off Klay Thompson, but that’s for another day.
The events for the All-Star weekend just aren’t doing it for the casual fans anymore to be completely honest. The Skills competition was changed this year which provided us with a bit of fun especially when you consider the fact that the competitors consisted of a team of the three Antetokounmpo brothers. The three point contest can almost always provide a fun experience, especially when you have the likes of Karl Anthony Towns setting a stage two record. The Dunk contest unfortunately can almost just be a re-watch of the 2016 Dunk Contest and be just as excited as ever.
This led me to think…we have to be able to improve the All Star Weekend, right? If we REALLY try hard and think of some sick concepts, it HAS to improve somehow. This isn’t saying that the NBA All-Star Weekend is a total bust just for the record. The game itself is fire, watching Steph pull up from everywhere and see Le-Nerd hitting a nasty fade away floater to win the game. Chills.
The NBA game absolutely decimates the NFL Pro Bowl. Honestly at this point, they should just stop forcing NFL stars to go if the game isn’t in Hawaii. The NBA has excelled at making the All-Star weekend and extravaganza with this years entertainment being top notch with Earth, Wind & Fire singing at the 75th announcements and watching DJ Khaled lose his absolute shit on stage with Gunna, Lil Baby and Lil Wayne.
Here’s some super quick ideas that you may consider genius on events that could help bring us a little happiness over watching rookies miss 57 straight dunk attempts.
1 v 1 Competition
One thing that makes the NBA one of the greatest leagues in the world is the petty nature of these players, most of which who have played against each other for a while now reaching back to high school days. There’s arguably nothing more I want to see than James Harden and Kyrie Irving go one on one right now. We heard the rumors that Kyrie would COOK Harden in practice, now let the people see it.
H-O-R-S-E
The Dunk Contest can provide us with a bit of one-upmanship but let’s see these range finders shoot lights out. I want to see LeBron catching a ball from the top row of the stadium for a dunk and see Embiid have to follow up. Let’s see Curry splash from half court and watch Joker try to match it.
Knockout
Did I just send you down a recess rabbit hole of nostalgia? Knockout was the summer camp game and let everyone have a shot at staying in the game barring the absolute madness of the loose cannon kid kicking your ball down the hill. Have the NBA players line up from the logo and see who can stroke.
What other events could be added to the NBA All-Star weekend to entertain the masses? Let me know!
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