The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off has been widely regarded as an overwhelming success while the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend was anything but. But as far as ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst sees it, the two events are entirely separate and should not be compared.

On Friday’s edition of NBA Today, Windhorst discussed the constant comparisons between the two events amongst media members, declaring that the NHL’s success should not be seen as a failure for the NBA.

“Number one, congratulations to the NHL,” said Windhorst. “It was a terrific event. Why does the NHL’s success have to be called the NBA’s failures? Which I have seen repeatedly over the last few days. Why does that have to be? What does one have to do with the other? Number two, while this was a great event, they are not having it next year. Next year, they have the Olympics in Milan. I read a report today that said the NHL said they will not hold it in 2027 or 2029. And in 2028, there is the Hockey World Cup. So this is the last one of these for the decade.

“Congratulations, it was great, but it’s not like the NHL has now got an annual event. Number three, it’s an in-season tournament. Talking about how inventive it is and everything… It’s an in-season tournament, the NBA had an in-season tournament first. The NBA sold that idea too, but it’s an in-season tournament. Now, it’s an effective in-season tournament because it is countries and maybe the NBA should look at that. But the idea that the NBA is getting put down and denigrated because of what the NHL did. I don’t get it and I don’t think it’s fair. And I am not going to participate in it.”

“Congratulations to the NHL. [The 4 Nations Face-Off] was a terrific event. Why does the NHL’s success have to be called the NBA’s failures?” – Brian Windhorst 🏒🏀pic.twitter.com/3vxhXe7EFU https://t.co/Or4OaRjju1

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 22, 2025

Except, he already has.

Windhorst said himself that he has “lost all interest” in the NBA All-Star Game and “avoids it like the plague” prior to the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend. So clearly, even he doesn’t think that the NBA has a successful model for their All-Star Game format, which the NHL has finally gotten right.

Considering the timeline of both the 4 Nations Face-Off and the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend, it is hard not to compare the two respective events for most fans watching at home, as there was a direct overlap between the two events last Saturday.

Plenty of sports fans enjoy both the NHL and the NBA. And the stark advantage in overall competitiveness that the NHL had over the NBA made it an incredibly easy decision for those who were forced to choose which event they wanted to watch. If anything, it actually highlighted how disappointing the NBA All-Star Weekend has become.

As Windhorst stated, the NBA did indeed come up with the idea of an in-season tournament first. But one could argue that there really isn’t anything all that special about the NBA’s in-season tournament, as there isn’t much on the line aside from some money on the line for players competing in the in-season tournament championship.

Meanwhile, the 4 Nations Face-Off leaned into the nationalistic nature of sports fans that has been around for centuries with the Olympic Games, which is arguably the most basic form of sports fandom.

For Windhorst to act like it is unfair to compare to events that happened concurrently certainly seems misguided. Even if the future of the 4 Nations Face-Off is uncertain for the time being and may not be a yearly event.