This year’s NBA All-Star break showed that there needs to be a massive change as the effort from the NBA superstars just doesn’t seem to be there. I mean, Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards shot left-handed all weekend!
There are many ways the NBA could change all-star weekend to better please the fans at the halfway point of the season. NBA rising stars participant Jalen Williams was asked what he thought the NBA could do to improve all-star weekend, the suggestion he brought up was 1v1’s between NBA superstars.
1v1’s during the all-star weekend has been something fans have wanted for the longest time, but it seems the NBA has given it virtually no attention. Now that a player has mentioned it at media availability, it has to be considered, right?
A 1v1 tournament for all-star weekend would change the entire dynamic of the NBA, the most pressing question would be if the all-stars are willing enough to participate in something controversial like this.
If the incentives were big enough, I think every star would be willing to participate, a cash reward would be sufficient, like maybe a $250k player bonus for winning the tournament, the players would try not only because of the cash reward but also because their reputation would be on the line.
Who wouldn’t want to see 1v1 matchups between NBA superstars? We could see matchups like Kevin Durant vs Lebron James, Luka Donicic vs Devin Booker, and Stephen Curry vs Kyrie Irving. This tournament would bring in more viewership than most all NBA games, and the revenue would be astronomical.
Even matchups like Chet vs Wemby, Zion vs Morant, and Fox vs Westbrook. There are so many possible matchups that can come out of this and each one will be more entertaining than the other.
Ezekiel Haylett, Verrado High School student and avid basketball viewer, says the 1v1 he would look forward to most is “Luka vs Shai” and this would be a matchup to look forward to, who wouldn’t want to watch Shai and Luka go at it?
The setup is as follows – a 16-round tournament that includes the NBA players who have been selected for the All-Star game, so only the best players can participate in the tournament.
Unfortunately this would not be the only fix, as many still love the idea of a 5 v 5 basketball game between the NBA’s best, so how would they fix it to make these NBA stars try and care about the game?
It seems like a stretch, but I would make the all-star game go back to West vs East once again and whoever wins between the two will have home-court advantage in the finals instead of making it whoever has the best record in the finals
So if the East were to win, whatever team were to make the NBA finals in the East would have homecourt advantage and vice-versa for the West, this would most definitely make the game much more competitive. Although it is a very high stake for just an all-star game, I believe this will be the only option to make it competitive like the fans want.
