Recently, the NBA All-Star game took place at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, the home of the Clippers. The game this year drew better reviews than it had in previous seasons, with players seeming to put forth at least some amount of effort in the new USA vs World format, with the younger USA team going on to win the round robin tournament and Anthony Edwards winning MVP.
However, the league is clearly still open to suggestions about how to make the event better going forward, and recently, NBA legend Dwyane Wade floated an intriguing idea for the future of the game.
“I don't feel like we should stop and do the [NBA] All-Star game in the middle of the season no more. … I look at it like Pro Bowl. … The All-Star game should be a trip… an experience for the people who making it,” said Wade, per Wy Network by Dwyane Wade on X, formerly Twitter.
Indeed, the NFL Pro Bowl game takes place after the regular season and the first three rounds of the playoffs are already completed, which in theory might draw more attention to it.
However, even that game has been the subject of immense criticism, with the league recently changing the format to flag football, and with large numbers of star players sitting out of the event every year, so it may not be the best reference point to use for improving the NBA's version of the game.
This year, San Antonio Spurs young star Victor Wembanyama set the tone early in the All-Star game with his effort level, and most of the other players seemed to follow suit, resulting in three straight games that went down to the wire, before the finale turned into a blowout quickly.
Overall, while it wasn't perfect, it was certainly a step in the right direction for the NBA All-Star festivities.
