The NBA’s All-Star Shame, or Game — if that’s what you want to call last Sunday night’s deception in Utah — hit a new low in its 72nd iteration.
Currently, the average life expectancy in the United States is 79 years. But the NBA’s once-premier game has outlived its use.
Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis was a tough watch. The midseason showpiece had the worst television audience ever, at a tiny 4.59 million viewers — a miserable number that was entirely predictable.
According to Sports Media Watch, viewership on TNT and TBS had a paltry 2.2 rating, surpassing the 2021 and 2022 lows of a 3.1 rating and around six million viewers two years ago.
Viewership fell 27 percent from the 2022 version as ratings also fell 29 percent — the largest drop since 2000. That’s almost a million fewer viewers than the NFL’s Germany game between the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5.55 million). which aired at 9:30 a.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT on a Sunday morning in November.
LeBron James’ all-star team did little to produce anything remotely comparable to previous eras
Team Giannis defeated Team LeBron in a ratings disaster with fewer than five million viewers
Fans can see the apathy to put on a show and show the competitiveness of bygone eras
It also lies achingly beneath the NFL’s failed attempt to revive its own meaningless All-Star equivalent in the Pro Bowl, which surpassed the NBA All-Star Game with more than six million viewers.
After holding the poisoned clipboard for Team LeBron on Sunday, Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone expressed disgust at the midseason format but acknowledged it was an honor to be a part.
“This is the worst basketball game ever played,” he said after the game. “I don’t know if you can fix it.
“They put on a show for the fans but it’s a tough game to get through, I’m not going to lie.”
And Malone wasn’t the only contestant to slam the All-Star Game.
Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown then admitted, “This isn’t basketball.”
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander admitted players don’t take the event seriously, but when asked how the All-Star game could be improved, the fur-coated Canadian could only say, ” money talks”.
“The more incentives I think the guys will take it seriously,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Sunday’s game. “It’s super fun the way it is now, I have no complaints.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has a major headache over the future of the All-Star Game
Memphis superstar Ja Morant will not compete in the dunk contest — a microcosm of a broader problem of fan disinterest plaguing the modern National Basketball Association
The current format, centered around a pre-game all-star draft, probably didn’t help.
As captains Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James selected teams from a pool of All-Stars, fans were reminded of the constant upheaval in the league’s roster. Opportunistic stars have been criticized in recent years for making their way from one team to another in hopes of chasing a title and strengthening their legacy.
Nets fans, for example, have watched as All-Stars Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden forced their way out of Brooklyn just a few years after reuniting for what many considered a championship run.
Meanwhile, fans in the modern NBA have become an afterthought. A star resting for a tip on December Wednesday night is now just a footnote in the post-game report.
Opinion poll
Should the NBA scrap the All-Star Game?
- Yes – it’s pointless and the players don’t care 0 votes
- No – it’s a season staple 0 votes
Fans, many of whom shell out pennies to afford NBA tickets, are now missing out on seeing their favorite players far too regularly.
And Sunday’s exhibition was far more expensive than any regular-season matchup.
Tickets to an All-Star game can be as low as $400, according to NBC Sports, but go as high as $27,000 for those looking for a VIP or meet-and-greet experience, according to Ticketmaster.
With the regular season having as little meaning now as ever, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the meaningless All-Star Game has continued to sink in players’ minds.
And the problem extends beyond the All-Star Game. Take the dunk contest, an event that drew criticism for the last few years until Saturday’s G-Leaguer Mac McClung shocked NBA competition by winning.
The notion that McClung — a man who played just 25 minutes in the NBA — “saved” Saturday night’s event is symptomatic of the unwillingness of modern stars to attend.
James, for example, has always denied fans the opportunity to see one of the sport’s most athletic phenomena at the dunk contest.
Mac McClung stole the show in the dunk contest, but he shouldn’t have to be the savior
Jaysom Tatum won the Kobe Bryant MVP Trophy after dropping 55 points on Sunday’s ASG
Denver Nuggets HC Mike Malone, who was coaching in the ASG, blatantly slammed the spectacle
Similarly, Memphis’ Ja Morant dismissively dashed hopes of his appearance. When asked at All-Star Weekend what it would mean to attend, Morant was adamant: “I don’t do the dunk contest.”
The idea that dunk competition – in a league with some of the most physically gifted people in the world – needed an obscure 24-year-old G-Leaguer says all there is to know.
Fans aren’t stupid. You can see the apathy to putting on a show and demonstrating the competitiveness of bygone eras.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith didn’t hold back in his criticism of the annual midseason extravaganza.
“What we should be seeing other than dunks isn’t what we should be able to watch a basketball game and know that anyone could be on the court with you based on the effort you put on,” he said on his first -Take show.
“It just smacks of a level of arrogance and self-evidence from fans that we continue to lament.
“So again, you know what, I’ll just look at it from that perspective and applaud Coach [Michael] Malone for highlighting the glaring lack of effort.
With 30 teams playing 82 regular season games a year, the NBA is an oversaturated market. It’s no surprise that the all-star game took the hit.