In 2023, former NBA player and ESPN broadcaster Mark Jackson famously bemoaned, “what happened to the game I love?” in response to what he considered a blasphemous flagrant foul call. His quip quickly became a rallying call for all those disenfranchised by the radically changing landscape of the NBA — the abundance of threes, the lack of defense and the load-management of star players. In recent weeks, as the NBA finds itself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, I’ve found myself reciting this proverb more than ever before.
It’s been 10 days now since the culmination of the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend, though it feels that the event’s outfall has generated more buzz than the event itself.
The Golden State Warriors hosted the event and the three main competitions: the three-point contest, the dunk contest and the All-Star game, which took a new tournament form this year. Historically, these events have been a glowing bastion of the sport of basketball, with each competition yielding memorable moments, year after year. In 2025, that glowing bastion is more of an eye-sore than an attraction.
The event’s sudden downfall is almost incomprehensible. Much of the NBA’s lore and legend derives from the league’s midseason festivities, which have run since 1951.
Larry Bird famously won his third consecutive three-point contest with his warm-up jacket on, cementing his status as the then-greatest shooter of all time. Aaron Gordon and Zach LaVine glued the NBA world’s eyes to their screens as they dueled in the dunk contest, leaping from the free-throw line over mascots while pulling off mid-air 360s and between-the-legs windmills. The All-Star game, at its best, has seen the league’s premier superstars, spanning generations, leave blood, sweat and tears on the hardwood in a battle for East vs. West glory.
Now, the weekend stands as a shell of itself. Kevin Durant, among others, thinks it should be scrapped altogether.
What happened, and where does the NBA go from here?
Let’s start with a recap of the weekend’s scintillating events. The three-point contest featured household names like Cam Johnson and Norman Powell, along with one of the league’s great flamethrowers, Cade Cunningham. Johnson and Powell, of course, are high-end role players without a large following, while Cunningham sports a measly 33.5% career conversion rate from beyond the arc. Stephen Curry, the game’s greatest shooter, did not compete.
The dunk contest was won — for a third straight time — by Mac McClung, who is not even on an NBA roster. What was once an event belonging to Vince Carter and Dominique Wilkins has become a showdown featuring a G-Leaguer and a 3.9 PPG scorer in Andre Jackson Jr. In fairness, McClung’s dunking highlights may well be the weekend’s saving grace: the dunk contest hasn’t featured superstar competitors in years, but McClung’s performances have inspired some of the NBA’s biggest stars to consider competing in the future.
The most entertaining part of the weekend came during the Skills Challenge. Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama exploited the event’s loosely written rules by errantly heaving every basketball they touched in rapid fashion before moving on to the next stage in order to finish with a faster time — they were subsequently banned. Ironically, in a weekend marked by lethargy, the only two people who cared enough to try and win did so in the laziest way imaginable.
The main event came a night later — the ever-coveted All-Star game. Except, for the first time ever, the All-Star game wasn’t a game. It was, rather, a tournament between four teams, including the elected all-stars and the winners of the weekend’s less-promoted Rising Stars game. The product was as pitiful as any in the 77-year history of the NBA.
The games were each played to forty points, making them incredibly short; for many of the All-Star game’s most successful years, the NBA has opted for a full 48-minute game.
The players were generally content to take half-court heaves and allow opponents uncontested dunks, but, to their credit, seemed at least marginally more interested in playing basketball than in years prior. While player effort is a massive issue, the real issue lies at the source of this lack of effort.
As the teams traded mostly uncontested shots from distance, a Jayson Tatum hot streak eventually forced a timeout. It was at this point that the game ceased for an impromptu performance from Kevin Hart. It is rare that one sees a 5-foot-4 man on a professional basketball court; it is rarer when this occurs unbeknownst to the unassuming and non-consenting players and public during the first quarter of the finals of the NBA All-Star tournament.
And yet, it is remarkably apropos — it is the epitome of what the NBA All-Star festivities have become: an embarrassment to the sport, a laughing stock for the rest of the sports world and an emblem of the Association’s recent plummet in popularity.
After an astonishing 20-minute break from play that saw Hart conduct a roast-adjacent ceremony “honoring” the Inside the NBA on TNT crew — a stoppage long enough to make the players cold and increase their risk of injury, further encouraging them not to try — the evidently disgruntled players returned to the floor.
Reflecting on the bizarre moment, Tatum remarked, “I think the toughest part [was when] they stopped the game to do the presentation while we were kind of halfway through it… It was kind of tough to get back into the game after that.”
“At the beginning you have the energy, the adrenaline… and then you sit for 30-45 minutes. That was tough, to be honest with you,” added Donovan Mitchell.
Upon resumption, the affair quickly culminated after just 11 minutes of actual basketball with an uncontested Tatum dunk — Wembanyama, who seemed to be the only one upset that the game was ending, was irate at his teammate Alperen Sengun’s lack of effort on the game-ending play.
In total, the All-Star tournament ran for three hours. Only 27 minutes of basketball were played and 80 minutes of advertisements were run.
The antics began before the players even took the court. LeBron James, the biggest name in basketball, opted out of the game at the last moment — who can blame him? His absence is representative of the All-Star game’s biggest problem: a pride deficiency.
Players have no reason to play, let alone try. There is no pride or prize to be gained in victory, and none to be lost in defeat. Resting means that you’ll be better fit to help your team win when the season continues. James’ choice to sit out, along with other stars like Antetokounmpo and Anthony Edwards, is as understandable as it is frustrating for fans.
How can a player be convinced that they ought to try when most players played around six minutes the entire night? How can a player be convinced that they ought to try when Kevin Hart hosts a roast of the players mid-game? How can a player be convinced that they ought to try when their play is interrupted by a Mr. Beast half-court challenge? From all angles, the new All-Star format is entirely unserious — that’s where NBA commissioner Adam Silver needs to step in.
Players like Draymond Green have been outspoken in their interest in making All-Star Weekend the spectacle it once was. When Green was asked to rate the Weekend’s current format from zero to 10, his answer was simple: “zero.” He considered the 40-point mini-games an affront to the players’ efforts, saying, “You work all year to be an All-Star and you get to play up to 40 [points], and then you’re done. This is so unfair to Victor Wembanyama, who just took this game really seriously.”
Curry has gone as far as to meet with Silver to discuss potential solutions. While this event — and this year as a whole — leaves a dark blemish on the NBA’s legendary legacy, hope is not lost.
The game and the weekend may never be as competitive or exciting as fans hope, but it can absolutely be better. The majority of this lies on the shoulders of Silver, who ought to return the game to its traditional East vs. West format and restrict the player pool to the 24 best players, not allowing the “Rising Stars” to participate in the main event. Alternatively, Silver could embrace the wishes of stars like Antetokounmpo, who want to see a USA vs. World format.
The game ought to be 48 minutes or consist of three 12-minute quarters and an untimed fourth quarter with a target score — this method, the “Elam ending,” was successful during its implementation in the 2020 All-Star game. Cut out the performers and cut down on the ads — above all, let the players play.
The rest lies on the players themselves, who seem mixed in their interest to put forth a full effort in the weekend’s festivities. That said, if even a couple of stars venture to participate in events like the dunk contest, it could give the NBA the momentum it direly needs in order to put on a successful main event. Give players bigger incentives for winning individual competitions and the main game; adopt the NHL’s former policy of restricting who they allow to sit out the game with injuries.
From there, it would be on the players to talk amongst themselves and agree to play with a specified degree of effort. Half-courters and dunks are fun and ought to be showcased, but so should lockdown defense and marquee matchups, especially as the clock winds toward zero. This balance between exhibition and competition is not only attainable but more enjoyable for everyone, from the players to the fans to the league itself.
The game we love is not dead, but lost — it’s in a period of soul-searching, if you will. The NBA All-Star Weekend has long been a celebration of the sport and its players — the hallmark of everything the league is. At a time when the NBA itself is under fire for the product it puts out and the poor ratings it draws, it feels especially necessary for players and league officials to coalesce and revive the All-Star weekend. If they do a good job of it, they just might revitalize the league itself.
