Many people said the NBA had an All-Star Weekend issue, and there could have been some truth to it. Over the past few years, the All-Star Game has been criticized when it comes to the competitive nature of the contest. As far as All-Star Saturday Night, many have not been fans of how the dunk contest has gone.
This year, there seemed to be a major shift, and it shows in the viewership numbers, according to NBA communications.
“More than 46 million people in the U.S. watched NBA All-Star weekend across NBC platforms and ESPN, the most in 24 years and more than triple last season,” NBA communications wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
This is big for the NBA, and it shows that they're on the right page when it comes to the minor changes they made this time around. One of the things that they did was change the format of the actual All-Star Game, as it was three different teams, and they played in a tournament-style game.
It looked as if the players liked the format, and with it doing so well, there's a good chance that Adam Silver will bring it back next year, and possibly for years to come.
As for the All-Star Saturday night, the one thing that caught everybody's attention this year was the Three-Point Contest, as Damian Lillard won despite having not played this season for the Portland Trail Blazers.
The dunk may have been overwhelming for some, but it's still a contest that everybody loves to watch.
The Rising Stars Challenge was also competitive this season, and that added to the viewership of the entire weekend. Ther will probably be some changes for next year, but for the most part, it looks like the NBA may have done something right with how they executed the week for the fans.
