NBA insider Chris Haynes reported Friday that the Association and NBPA (player’s union) will meet with players Sunday before the 2025 NBA All-Star Game to encourage the “importance of competing and putting on a show for the fans”. Even though these discussions happen annually pre-All-Star Game, the NBA is for real this time since the format has changed this year. 

First of all, the NBA All-Star game has turned into such a joke that I, a lifelong fan who watches more NBA basketball than 99.9 percent of the world, forgot the format changed. I mean, why would I or anyone care? As Haynes says, there is a “heightened scrutiny of how players seem uninterested on All-Star Sundays”. Haynes can erase “seem” from that sentence. 

After last year’s 211-186 clown show, which looked like a bad LA Fitness game, NBA commissioner Adam Silver changed the All-Star game again to a four-team mini-tournament. The Association returned to an “East vs. West” format last year following six years of two captains (aka LeBron James vs. another All-Star) drafting their teams.

This season, TNT broadcasters Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, and Charles Barkley will draft squads, and Team Candace [Parker] gets whoever wins the Rising Stars Challenge Saturday. There will be three first-to-40-point games Sunday at the Chase Center in San Francisco, with the semifinal winners meeting in a championship game. 

As a point of order (not that anyone should care), players on the winning team get $125,000 a piece, the second-place team takes home $50,000 per player, and the other two teams collect $25,000 each. It’s gross that players, most of whom make more than $30 million per year, need to be financially incentivized to give a sh*t about the NBA All-Star game in the first place. 

RELATED: Kevin Durant Hates NBA’s New All-Star Format As League’s Problems Pile On

The NBA All-Star Game’s terribleness encapsulates an issue plaguing the Association: The players don’t care about the product or fans. Because none of these guys have ever worked a real job and don’t understand the concept of “budgeting finances”, NBA players frequently sit out games and essentially rip off paying customers. 

Furthermore, the cheapest ticket to attend the NBA All-Star Game Sunday is $636 (including bullsh*t fees) at SeatGeek. That alone should motivate the players to put on a show. Imagine being a parent (I know none of you readers would go to an NBA game), spending $2,500+ to take your kids to the All-Star game, and watching these players mail it in. 

With that in mind, San Francisco is the perfect location for this Ponzi scheme of an All-Star game. Like the NBA, San Francisco is unnecessarily expensive, while somehow getting pricier as the value decreases, and is poorly governed. In fact, the only person worse at his job than Silver is California Governor Gavin Newsom. 

Players in EVERY league should take All-Star games seriously. The media and fans excuse professional athletes from giving a sh*t about them because it doesn’t involve winning a championship. Participating in an All-Star game is viewed as an annoying business trip no one would enjoy. 

When, in reality, All-Star games are a showcase and celebration of the players and the game. They come with bonuses and a**-kissing for professional athletes, who already live in a different world than us regular folk. More importantly, sports are entertainment, and just putting on a show is as important as winning. 

_____________________________

Follow me on X (or Twitter, whatever) @Geoffery-Clark, and check out my OutKick Bets Podcast for more betting content and random rants. I’ll add bets to my NBA 2024-25 betting record via X all season.