Last night, the Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference in the record-breaking 2024 NBA All-Star Game by a score of 211-186. For the first time in the game’s 73-year history, a team broke the 200-point threshold. While some may love this high-scoring affair, some of the players who participated in the game have talked about the lack of the game’s competitiveness. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Jaylen Brown, Anthony Edwards, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are just a few of the names who spoke about the All-Star Game in its current state.
Additionally, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver seemed unhappy with the game’s results as well:
“And to the Eastern Conference All-Stars, you scored the most points,” Silver said flatly. “Well … congratulations.”
New ESPN story: Adam Silver spent months stressing how Sunday’s All-Star Game needed to be better than last year. Saturday, he declared it would be.
But it turned out Silver was wrong — and his frustration was plain to see postgame.
So, what now?https://t.co/j3N9U5Wp5R
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) February 19, 2024
NBA All-Stars Comment on Game’s Lack of Competitveness
LeBron James
Playing in his record-setting 20th All-Star Game last night, the Los Angeles Lakers forward knows this game better than anyone. James spoke about the game being “something we need to figure out” in hopes of making it more competitive:
“I think it’s something we need to figure out,” said James, who was dealing with a sore left ankle and didn’t play in the second half. “Obviously from a player’s perspective, it’s fun to get up and down. But at the end of the day, our competitive nature don’t like to have free-flowing scoring like that. But I think the good thing that came out of tonight was none of the players were injured, and everybody came out unscathed or how they were before the game started. So it’s a deeper conversation.”
21st Year.
20th NBA All-Star Game. pic.twitter.com/AyTrKQxzm9— NBA (@NBA) February 19, 2024
Anthony Davis
Much like his Lakers teammate, Anthony Davis emphasized players wanting to avoid injury in the All-Star Game. This suggests fear of getting injured in a game that, frankly, has no implications for the regular season or the playoffs:
“Obviously the fans and the league and everybody wants to be competitive, but then you also as players think about trying not to get hurt,” Davis said. “Obviously injuries are a part of the game, and no one wants to get hurt in the All-Star Game. … All these guys here are very valuable to their teams. So it’s some mixed emotions about it. You try to go out there and compete a little bit and not just be a highlight show. But at the same time, do you guys really want to see somebody going down for a dunk and somebody going to contest it and, God forbid, something happens in the All-Star Game when it could have been avoided?”
Jaylen Brown
The Boston Celtics star revealed that “there were some discussions” among the players to take the game seriously. By his own admission, it is clear these discussions did not lead to much:
“There were some discussions,” Brown said. “There were definitely some. I’m not sure how successful that was, but there were definitely some discussions. I guess guys are trying to figure out how to do that at the same time as having fun, being safe, being injury free. I guess more solutions need to be had to figure that out.”
Anthony Edwards
Of all the All-Stars who spoke on the game, the Minnesota Timberwolves star was the most direct:
“For me, it’s an All-Star Game, so I will never look at it as being super competitive,” Anthony Edwards said. “It’s always fun. I don’t know what they can do to make it more competitive. I don’t know. I think everyone looks at it … it’s a break, so I don’t think everyone wants to come here and compete.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Gilgeous-Alexander started his first All-Star Game of his career last night. However, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard admitted he learned “nothing” while playing the game:
“The game was so not serious, I didn’t learn nothing, not gonna lie,” Gilgeous-Alexander. “We were just running around trying to score.”
The Last Word on the NBA All-Star Game
The truth is it may be impossible to fix the NBA All-Star Game. For many years, the game has not been competitive. However, with numerous NBA players being open about not taking the game seriously, it may force the league to add an incentive or two to make the game more interesting for the players and fans.
