NBA fans were treated to quite the surprise at this year’s All-Star game.

In the middle of the league’s new mini-tournament format, YouTube star MrBeast hosted a halfcourt shooting contest between Damian Lillard and a randomly selected fan.

As if the odd tournament setup and Kevin Hart jokes weren’t enough of a distraction from the NBA’s best players competing against each other, the inclusion of MrBeast added another strange dimension to the poorly received event in San Francisco.

But as the NBA continues to experiment with its marquee in-season celebration and a new TV partner, NBC, picks it up, the content creators aren’t going anywhere. In a new interview with Sportico, NBA senior vice president of digital and social content Bob Carney was over the moon about the ways in which the league continues to integrate popular online personalities like MrBeast into its All-Star festivities.

“It was one of those moments where it was like, the creators—they’ve made it,” Carney told Sportico. “It’s been a 10-year journey, but they’re very much a massive part of the NBA ecosystem, and we wanted that to be reflected in the programming across all of All-Star Weekend.”

While this year upped the ante, social media stars and streamers like Druski and Kai Cenat are staples in the NBA world. For the first time, the MrBeast shootout integrated the chaotic world of online content directly with a traditional live sports event.

In boasting that the NBA digital team and MrBeast bonded over “a shared obsession with data,” Carney highlighted the money shot of the winning fan leaping into a cube of cash as “a MrBeast specialty.”

It sure was, but to what end? MrBeast’s obsessive mindset and keen eye are explicitly catered to YouTube. Anyone who listens to the man (real name Jimmy Donaldson) speak can tell he worked tirelessly to crack the code of the world’s biggest video platform, down to the best facial expressions to use on a thumbnail and the constant, jarring jump cuts. Just because he is enormously successful on that platform does not mean that what he does works for NBA All-Star viewers.

While the league clearly needs to reimagine an event that is fading from popularity, it’s hard to see the vision in simply shoving content creators into it. Setting aside the obvious clash in style between an NBA game broadcast and a YouTube competition video, creators develop audiences through authentic connection. Just as with the biggest radio hosts of previous generations, fans tune into their favorite YouTubers, streamers and social media personalities because they find a shared sense of humor, background, or worldview. Online communities have a real relationship with these creators that can be difficult to port into new mediums.

The fact that MrBeast, Kai Cenat or Druski are favorites among the key demographics the NBA wants to tap into for All-Star, doesn’t mean they will come. Countless creators have stepped in it by aligning with corporate partners or cohosts, only for their audiences to push back. Maybe MrBeast loves hoops, but you can’t force an audience to draw a line between him and the NBA if that connection doesn’t feel real to them.

Of course, the league and its partners at TNT went into overdrive, clipping these creators’ appearances in San Francisco for YouTube and social media content. That stuff is bound to do well. The NBA likely has data supporting its decision to push forward with these stars.

But from this vantage point, Carney’s claim that creators are a “massive part of the NBA ecosystem” seems like something the league is forcing upon its fans rather than something they are asking for. NBA fans come from family tradition, community pride and a love of playing the game. Liking basketball and liking MrBeast are two separate things. Crossovers don’t always add up to something greater.