It wasn’t how I had planned to spend my Valentine’s weekend Saturday. After a low-key celebration of the festivities a day earlier, a few scheduled errands and household chores fell victim to a bevy of competitive college basketball games filling the TV screen. From noon to well into the evening, those chores that were completed seemed to take place during commercials or halftime breaks as game after game featured compelling action.
A few more college contests caught my eye the following day until my hoop fixations seemed satisfied. Later in the evening, I flicked on the tube to catch up on the weather forecast. As my trigger finger on the remote was moving actively, I stumbled upon more basketball ‘action’ describing itself as the NBA All-Star game.
What I saw did feature a basketball and what could loosely be described as a game but compared to what I had been watching with the college game most of the weekend, it appeared to me to resemble the Barnum & Bailey Circus, complete with plenty of clowns!
For the past decade, the NBA All-Star game has turned into a non-competitive exhibition played by super-rich, highly skilled athletes determined to get by playing no defense and not breaking a sweat so their uniforms would not have to be laundered. Ridiculous game scores in the 190s and 180s made the games a farce.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had to do something for the sake of the league’s integrity. The format he selected left much to be desired, and the All-Star game format was completely remolded.
The traditional All-Star Game was replaced with a four-team tournament, with teams playing games up to 40 points. Three of the teams were selected by fan vote, with a fourth team comprised of ‘Rising Stars,’ defined as the league’s younger players. Criticism ran rampant, perhaps best voiced by Ricky O’Donnell of SB Nation.
“Maybe the NBA had its heart in the right place by trying to manufacture a more competitive All-Star Game, but the end result was a disaster. The game felt more like a variety show than a basketball game, stripping the best parts of the weekend for cringeworthy moments, including streamers and comedians. At one point, the game paused so comedian Kevin Hart could get some jokes off at the players’ expense.
“The biggest problem with this year’s All-Star Game is there wasn’t much actual basketball.”
The demise of the NBA Showcase game lies directly at the feet of the All-Star selected players. These well-paid players, some of the most athletic skilled in sports, chose to play the game with a non-caring, cavalier attitude that made a mockery of the game they were representing.
Criticism of today’s NBA comes from all corners, including statements made by the Golden State Warriors talented but outspoken star Draymond Green, who has called the game boring; “It’s boring. It depends on who runs faster and shoots more 3s.”
The format of the All-Star Games in the four major sports have all undergone changes in recent years. In addition to the NBA experiment, a lack of effort by NFL players led the league to abandon the game in favor of a flag football contest. The NHL ditched its All-Star format to put on the Four Nations Faceoff, which is comprised of teams representing Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States competing in a round-robin tournament. Only the MLB All-Star game maintains a traditional competition, although various rule changes have been applied to the game.
Professional players benefit from their selection as All-Stars. In addition to the prestige of their selection, many have clauses in their contracts that pay them extra money for receiving the honor. But with the exception of baseball, their lack of interest in playing the game at the competitive level it deserves has rendered such games uninteresting and meaningless.
For the record, the most recent salary figures for the four major professional sports leagues reveal more reasons why NBA players should give a damn about their sport in the public eye. The average annual salary for an NBA player is $9.7 million for an 82-game schedule. The MLB average salary is $4.5 million for 162 games, the NHL $3.5 million for 82 games, and the NFL $2.8 million for 17 games.
The NBA product is also suffering from TV ratings. Throughout mid-February, NBA games were averaging 1.4 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, and TNT — down 19% from last year. With NBA TV included, the decline swells to 25%.
While TV ratings show the NBA’s decline, other leagues, such as the NFL and SEC football, are thriving. Catlin Clark has fueled women’s basketball, and MLB had a good ratings year last season. NHL viewership is down 28%, and NCAA men’s basketball ratings are below what they were a season ago.
In perspective, consumers’ sports viewing habits are changing, as is the traditional outlook of media providers. But in the competition for viewer’s eyeballs, sports leagues desiring to increase their fan base need to do much better than the NBA’s send-in-the-clowns presentation.
