I agree with Kevin Durant. Here in the Philippines, we have seen the tournament-style all-star format, and it's nuts.
And while yeah, it's not a tournament-style format, it had a bunch of games. As a training ordeal for Gilas Pilipinas, the all-star games from 2017 to 2018 were played in multiple locations with the Gilas stars fighting against the players from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Gilas, or Smart All-Stars, finished with 3 wins, 2 losses, and a draw.
The games also compensated for the players' inability to make the all-star weekends exciting. The slam dunk contest has been one of the most polarizing contests in any all-star weekend. Yes, the NBA had a lot of iconic matches in Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins, as well as Aaron Gordon and Zach LaVine, but they also had NBA G-Leaguer Mac McClung win the last two installments. The PBA never had this kind of situation because most of the dunkers that participate, except for KG Canaleta, Rey Guevarra, and Joey Mente, are in-game dunkers. LeBron James never participated in the event, and with his absence, came the realization that the dunk contest will never be the star maker it once was.
McClung, who is signed with the Orlando Magic on a two-way contract, has played a combined five games in the NBA from 2021 to the present.
Anyway, these PBA All-Star Weekend matches may have given the fans a 5v5 treat in all three locations, but it made this fan service susceptible to injuries and inserted a couple of questionable all-stars. Not to disparage the Gilas cadets from the 2016 PBA Draft but the only believable all-star caliber players from that class are Matthew Wright, RR Pogoy, Jio Jalalon, Kevin Ferrer, and Mac Belo.
Now in the NBA, apart from some games that had the likes of Kyle Korver, Don Buse, James Donaldson, Chris Gatling, Tyrone Hill, and Theo Ratliff, most of the names on the list are spot on. That said, the All-Star Weekend is far from the competition we want to see, and in some ways, I approve of this. Why would the NBA reward the superstars with a competitive extra game? And just because the player is an all-star doesn't mean he has the same usage rate as the other all-star. Gatling may have been the top dog in Dallas in 1997, but he's not going to see the same minutes as Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Grant Hill. And in the same all-star game, what's stopping Detroit and East All-Stars coach Doug Collins to play Hill and Joe Dumars at the same time, or better yet, letting Jordan and Scottie Pippen tire their butts off? People complain that the all-star games have zero defense but people also freak out at players getting injured in an "unimportant" fan service weekend.
And now, we have Adam Silver "reward" the outstanding players of the season with competitive basketball. Apart from the hit-or-miss Emirates Cup, this competitive all-star tournament could ruin a player or a championship. I get that having a race-to-40 match consisting of eight players may be doable, but what is the reward exactly for the winners?
Monetary compensation favors the players with rookie contracts. Primadonnas could opt out of the event, leaving most of the bulk to the other players on the team.
The NBA has had a problem with the ratings, and maybe it's because they are trying too hard. I thought the Captain's Pick was the best alternative to the East versus West format because the league can determine the league's superstar.
It also creates drama among the players. This is most evident in what happened in the 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend.
I think this version is a go.
That said, this version needs to go. The scary thing about seeing this format is injuries, pulling and shoving, undeserving players playing in the event, and other intangibles the NBA All-Star must not have.
Yes, I agree that it's fun to have a competitive event with the best players going at it against one another. However, I'm also bent on seeing these players go full-on beast mode when the games matter the most.