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The NBA already announced that they will push through with an All-Star game slated on March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who both served as last season's All-Star Game captains, already expressed their disapproval of having the festivities amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
A huge question now looms over the league: Will they opt to ignore the opinion of their biggest stars and push through with the All-Star Game or choose to prioritize the health of everyone instead?
Buying
The league and its teams have already absorbed a ton of financial losses brought by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year. The burden of not having fans in attendance this season certainly brought down a major revenue stream that the NBA has been banking on for many years.
Having an All-Star Game will certainly help bring television ratings up and aid the league in recuperating from the said financial losses. Last season's All-Star Game held in Chicago garnered almost 7.3 million viewers. In comparison, the viewership was more than the most-watched game of the 2020-21 season on a Christmas Day game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks which only managed to draw over 7.01 million viewers.
For sentimental reasons, an opportunity to appear in NBA All-Star events is hard to come by for many players, considering the amount of talent that can be found in the league today. The main man of the Washington Wizards in Bradley Beal is hoping to make a return to the All-Star game after being famously snubbed last season.
A couple of rising stars in Ja Morant and Jaylen Brown are also looking to make the first All-Star games of their respective careers this season. A handful of the NBA's young players will certainly appreciate the fact that they will get to play in an actual game to mark a memorable milestone.
Moreover, this season's All-Star festivities are expected to be condensed as a mere single-day event which will only include the main exhibition game along with a couple of skills competitions. It will be a rather quick event as compared to the traditional All-Star Weekend which lasts for a total of three days with extra mini-events happening on the side like the Celebrity All-Star Game and the Rising Stars Challenge.
Selling
After proving to be beneficial in some areas, the idea of having an All-Star game definitely garnered some violent reactions over the past week. LeBron James claimed that he was upset with the NBA and that the plans were ‘a slap in the face' considering the possible effects brought by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Giannis Antetokounmpo echoed the same sentiments and doubled down on James' claim that he has ‘zero energy' for the game. De'Aaron Fox didn't hold back as well when he admitted that pushing through with an All-Star game is ‘stupid'.
Having all these big-name stars bash the league and its plans certainly won't serve as good PR for the NBA moving forward. League commissioner Adam Silver along with the other decision-makers will get blasted even more if they choose to ignore their sentiments and push through with the All-Star Game next month.
Since the start of the season, the league has already postponed countless games due to concerns brought by the virus. They also prohibited the exchange of jerseys in post-game proceedings which was a silly rule, to begin with, considering that the same players rub their skins on one another during games.
In addition, the latest contact tracing saga of Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant further raises concerns about the credibility of the league to handle these matters. Much more is expected from them in the event that a potential COVID-19 outbreak will happen in Atlanta come March.
As per Johns Hopkins, the state of Georgia is currently tallying 4,500 new COVID-19 cases per day which contributes to the overall increase of the already alarming number of positive cases in the United States thus far.
The NBA will have to establish stronger precautionary measures and safety protocols if they want to ensure the safety of all individuals that will be involved in the upcoming All-Star game. The upcoming weeks will certainly be pivotal for the league as they aim to successfully navigate through another tough debacle with the lives of many individuals at stake.
