How To Fix The NBA All-Star Game

Now that a few weeks have passed since the latest non-competitive version of the NBA All-Star Game, we can now wonder if anything can be done to improve the event once considered the headliner of the annual NBA All-Star Weekend. In the 2024 contest, team eclipsed the 200-point mark in a single NBA All-Star Game for the first time. Both teams combined for a game-record 397 points. The Eastern Conference All-Stars scored at least 50 points in all four quarters. Times have changed dramatically from the 1952 game where the Eastern and Western Conference All-Stars, presumably exhausted from installing plumbing and putting out fires that morning, scored 154 points combined. Despite the widespread criticism over the lack of defensive intensity, the television ratings for the event remains steady. That means there’s no chance of the game being eliminated, so here are a couple of suggestions on how to fix the NBA All-Star Game we’re stuck with.

REMOVE THE THREE-POINT LINE FROM THE ALL-STAR GAME

One pattern is clear: the trend of increased scoring in the NBA All-Star Game, particularly the recent spike, is directly proportional to the increase in three-point attempts and makes.

• There were 168 three-pointers attempted in the 2024 NBA All-Star Game
• Of the game’s 397 points scored in the 2024 contest, 168 (42%) came via the three-point field goal.
• 2014 was the first All-Star Game where both teams combined to attempt at least 100 three-point field goals, and every game since has had at least 100 attempts.
• The first 12 NBA All-Star Games where the three-point shot was an option had a combined total of 143 three-point attempts between the two teams.
• Damian Lillard attempted 23 three-point field goals in the 2024 NBA All-Star Game. In the first 11 All-Star Games where the three-point shot was an option, the most three-point attempts by both teams combined was 21.

Defending against the three-point shot is challenging during regular-season games, so it’s not difficult to imagine All-Star Game participants’ reluctance to defend 25 feet away from the basket while the other 95 percent of the league’s players are on vacation.

Removing the three-point line would (one would think) remove the microwave approach to scoring points and compel the players to pursue higher-percentage shots closer to the basket. With every field goal once again worth two points regardless of distance, the offensive players are now drawn toward the defensive players instead of vice-versa.

It’s also possible for this scenario to result in a bunch of uncontested layups and dunks, but you have to try something.

REQUIRE EVERY ALL-STAR TO PLAY THE ENTIRE GAME

Grand Central Station during rush hour. Macy’s Herald Square during the holidays. Times Square at any time. Ever try to navigate your way through that type of population density? Folks are in your way without even trying.

Same concept.

Make the court crowded. With 24 players on the court simultaneously, defensive resistance happens by default. Offensive players will be running into each other, even if the defensive intensity isn’t there. There is no floor spacing to be had, even if there’s a three-point line on the court. If a player gets tired and wants to come out of the game, then let him foul his way into disqualification or foul trouble. That will require some token defensive resistance, at least. Less movement will be required from each player; some won’t have to move at all. Not too different from what we’re seeing now.

MAKE THE THREE-POINT LINE A ONE-POINT LINE

So you wanna win the All-Star Game’s Most Valuable Player award, huh? If those 28-foot shots being tossed up were suddenly worth only one point instead of three, you’d better believe the two-point shot would suddenly become the field-goal attempt of choice. And in a contest like this where you’re likely to find more of a crowd closer to the basket (especially if all 24 participants are on the court), scoring a basket under those conditions should be worth more points anyway.

GET PATRICK BEVERLEY INVOLVED

We’ve all seen video of defensive-minded guard Patrick Beverley, currently with the Milwaukee Bucks, getting in the faces of teammates who miss defensive rotations. It doesn’t matter how long the much-traveled Beverley has been on a roster. Even if his own defensive skills aren’t what they once were, he has never been bashful about confronting a teammate (regardless of status) about lazy defense or a missed rotation.

So bring him to the All-Star Game and get him involved. Let him coach one of the teams. Heck, let him coach both teams. Let someone else worry about making substitutions (unless the “all players must play every minute” rule is enacted, in which case there are no substitutions). Let Coach Beverley call timeouts and huddle with both teams simultaneously, reminding them how fortunate they are to participate in the game and how much money the spectators dropped to get into the building.

If that doesn’t work, then let him play. Expand the rosters to add a couple of guys who are in the league strictly because of their defensive play. Even if he’s the only one on the floor actually guarding someone, it’s an improvement. But get Patrick Beverley involved somehow.

ABOLISH THE ALL-STAR GAME ALTOGETHER

We’re now in an era where the top players spend the entire regular-season preparing for the postseason. Once teams feel a playoff spot is secured, which usually happens a little more than halfway through the regular-season, the priority becomes availability of their top players once the playoffs start.

Overall, players don’t participate in all 82 regular season games the way they used to. Injuries and rest (load management) are now as much a part of the game as the game itself. Now, even with the All-Star Game, an exhibition game in February with the regular-season nearly 60 percent completed and featuring the team’s top/most popular players for the first half of the NBA season, rest and injury prevention remain the priority. The action on the court is clear evidence of that.

WHO AM I KIDDING?

Of course, none of the proposed ideas have an chance of happening. The television ratings for the All-Star Game remain strong. The debates over which players were named to the squad undeservingly and which players were unfairly omitted are a central part of NBA banter among fans and media. And fans of a team still get an adrenaline rush when one of their own is chosen, especially if it’s for the first time. That player’s performance in the game is now secondary to being included on the squad.

The league recognizes the need to figure out how to fix the NBA All-Star Game. In an attempt to make the NBA All-Star Game more competitive, the league has tinkered with the format in recent years, letting the top vote-getters choose their rosters from the pool of All-Stars for a few years before returning to the “East versus West” format. There’s even talk of a “United States vs The World” format But even changing the team names to “Jets vs Sharks” or “Hatfields vs McCoys” won’t change the intensity level of the contest, and the folks paying the high salaries are, presumably, okay with it.

Long-time fans of the NBA realize this is just more sport evolution we’re witnessing. We’ll adapt like we always have. But the league has some work to do.

Photo by Abhay siby Mathew on Unsplash