The All-Star Game used to be one of the most entertaining nights in the NBA season. The best players on Earth going toe-to-toe and competing at the highest level made it a one-of-a-kind show.
That’s no longer the case. The talent pool might be bigger, and some might argue that the players are even better. However, it’s become evident that they don’t care about competing anymore.
Even so, the Los Angeles Lakers star duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis justified what went down on Sunday. When asked about arguably the worst All-Star Game in NBA history — according to social media — they were just glad no one got hurt.
LeBron And Davis Defend Non-Competitive All-Star Games
“I think it’s something we need to figure out,” James told ESPN. “Obviously from a player’s perspective, it’s fun to get up and down. But at the end of the day, our competitive nature don’t like to have free-flowing scoring like that. But I think the good thing that came out of tonight was none of the players were injured, and everybody came out unscathed or how they were before the game started. So it’s a deeper conversation.”
Davis echoed a similar sentiment. Of course, player safety should be first and foremost, but how many stars actually got hurt playing pickup or playing at the All-Star Game?
“Obviously the fans and the league and everybody wants to be competitive, but then you also as players think about trying not to get hurt,” Davis said. “Obviously injuries are a part of the game, and no one wants to get hurt in the All-Star Game. All these guys here are very valuable to their teams. So it’s some mixed emotions about it. You try to go out there and compete a little bit and not just be a highlight show. But at the same time, do you guys really want to see somebody going down for a dunk and somebody going to contest it and, God forbid, something happens in the All-Star Game when it could have been avoided?”
Not so long ago, NBA stars played all 82 games or most of them, and they still managed to stay in the league for 15+ seasons. They have better trainers, more technology, fly in private jets, stay in five-star hotels, yet they don’t even want to play back-to-backs.
SURVEY Is the All-Star Game even worth watching anymore?
Is the All-Star Game even worth watching anymore?
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