How do you fix the NBA All-Star Game?
Over the last few years, the league has tried making alterations to the format, with the latest iteration involving players from the United States versus a team consisting of players from around the world. If this version of the annual event fails, sports personality Nick Wright has a suggestion.
“White guys versus Black guys. Luka, Joker, Flagg, Reaves, Knueppel against Wemby, whomever,” Wright said on The Bill Simmons Podcast. “I’m telling you right now, guys would play fucking hard. There would be a real edge to the game.”
One of the main issues with the NBA All-Star Game is the lack of effort. There is no level of competition and players are simply chucking up shots. In its return to the East vs. West format last season for the first time since 2017, the Eastern Conference attempted 146 shots and a record 97 three-pointers to defeat the Western Conference, 211-186.
As last year’s NBA All-Star Game fell flat, the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament flourished. According to Front Row Sports, when Team USA faced Canada in a round-robin contest on the same night as NBA All-Star Saturday, the game averaged 4.4 million viewers on ABC, making it the most-watched non-Stanley Cup Final broadcast since 2017.
Even though the 4 Nations Face-Off and All-Star Game are similar in pitting the best players in the league against each other, the competition levels were vastly different.
Maybe representing your country served as a motivating factor? The NBA seems to be banking on that with this year’s USA vs. The World format. Or, it could be as simple as hockey players are naturally more competitive.
Whether he was joking about a game between white and Black NBA players, Wright believes the league is nearing a point where it would be a “good game.”
“We are getting close to a place where it’d be like, ‘Oh, that’d be a good game,’” he said. “Like, there hasn’t been a moment in the NBA in the last 50 years where if that ended up, just by chance being the game, you could see either team winning.”