Washington Wizards guard and All-Star Bradley Beal thinks this season's All-Star Game will actually have defense incorporated in it. But the reason he thinks so may not be what most think it is.

The NBA recently announced that it was increasing the reward for the winning team to $100,000. It used to be $50,000.

That fact has Beal predicting that the players who compete in the game will start to care more, and therefore actually defend each other, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington.

There's only one issue with this: The players were already incentivized with free money for the winning team. Yes, the league doubled the reward, but these players make millions upon millions of dollars. Is an extra $50,000 really going to make a difference?

Beal seems to think so. But it is a bit sad that it's money and money alone that makes these players want to play harder in the All-Star game.

However, maybe fans should look at the game from the players' perspective.

All-Star weekend is for the fans, and the players have already spent more than half the season putting their bodies at risk and playing as hard as they can for about 50 games before the break. The best players work the hardest throughout the season, and they are also the ones that get chosen for the All-Star game.

So while the rest of the league gets a vacation, the best players have to play more basketball. All the while, they have to make sure not to get injured during a weekend that's all for the fans. If they go hard, that's less of a guarantee.

It's a fine line, but maybe because the players already play for money, it makes sense to further incentivize them with money.