The 2024 NBA Finals is still the league's biggest spectacle, as it, more often than not, pits against each other two of the best teams in the association. However, having the best teams doesn't necessarily mean having the best players. The opportunity for the NBA to showcase its best players comes during February, when the players who've played at a top level for the season to that point coming together for the famous All-Star Game.

The All-Star Game gives fans the privilege of watching the best talents in the game, a sight that doesn't come often given how the league wants to maintain as much parity as possible across all 30 teams. This has led to much excitement over the years. However, the NBA has run into a competitiveness problem, particularly over the past two editions of the All-Star Game.

While the league office has been trying its best to spice up the All-Star Game and incentivize the game's best players to give it their all despite it being an exhibition game, the past two games have been so lopsided and played with nonchalance that fans have panned it for being boring beyond belief. Now, it seems as though Adam Silver has lost all hope, with the NBA commissioner saying that simply nothing may be done regarding the biggest issue plaguing the ASG.

“We may be just past the point where guys and teams are incentivized to play a competitive All-Star game in the middle of the season,” Silver said in an appearance on the ESPN booth prior to Game 3 of the 2024 NBA Finals, via ClutchPoints Twitter (X). “It's the nature of the league.”

Indeed, winning a championship is the ultimate goal, and players are looking to preserve their health rather than to risk injury in what ultimately is a meaningless exhibition game. It might be the heartbreaking reality of today's NBA, but even Adam Silver is coming to terms with the fact that the All-Star Game truly might be dead.

The 2024 All-Star Game made history… but was nearly unwatchable

It's important to mention that the players who made the All-Star teams in 2024 is as talented as it can get. Aside from a few snubs, the 2024 All-Star Game saw the likes of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Nikola Jokic lead the Western Conference, while Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and Jayson Tatum headlined the Eastern Conference.

But with nothing to motivate the players to put together a competitive game, the All-Star Game this past season devolved into a shooting exhibition and a glorified cardio session, with a few lobs sprinkled in here and there to give viewers at least some sort of spectacle. No semblance of defense was played; in the end, the two teams combined for a record total of 397 points, with the Eastern Conference taking home a 211-186 win.

A total of five players scored 30 or more points, with Karl-Anthony Towns feasting on the lack of defense to put up 50 points to lead the way for the losing team. The two teams combined to shoot 168 three-point attempts, which comprised over 58 percent of the shots that were taken on the night. It even got to the point where a few players launched wild threes from the backcourt, a shot that would get someone thrown out of the game had it been taken in a competitive contest with legitimate stakes.

The 2024 All-Star Game is certainly befitting of the distinction of being the last straw for commissioner Adam Silver. The ASG will be here to stay, but the fanfare surrounding it will never be the same again.

The NBA was doing so well… just watch the 2020 and 2022 ASGs

Prior to the 2017-18 season, the NBA decided to overhaul the format of the All-Star Game after a few unwatchable editions of the game. They decided that the leading vote-getters from the two conferences will be the captain of their respective All-Star teams, scrapping the East vs. West format that the NBA has followed since its inception in 1951.

This new format became a smash hit; the 2018 All-Star Game was played closely until the end, with Team LeBron starting a five-year run of dominance with a 148-145 win. But in 2020, the NBA decided to adopt the Elam Ending, with a target score designated in the fourth quarter instead of a game clock, and just to add further incentive, winning teams of each quarter would win $100,000 for the charity they're playing for.

It resulted in arguably the greatest All-Star Game in history; the players, in addition to the smash hit that was the new format, were also playing hard to honor the late, great Kobe Bryant, who passed away tragically only a few weeks prior to the game. The two teams were playing the best defense they can, with Kyle Lowry even taking a few charges, but the NBA wouldn't reach those heights again.

The 2022 All-Star Game was fun, as it ended in an exhilarating LeBron James fadeaway, but lacked the back and forth action and gritty defense of the 2020 game. Little did everyone know that that would probably be the last year the All-Star Game would be competitive as the past two editions of the game have been rather lackluster and borderline unwatchable.