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SAN FRANCISCO — You can’t manufacture soul.
We’re a long way from the All-Star Game being a referendum on LeBron James’ clutchness — remember that 2012 game in Orlando when he passed up taking a winning shot, with Kobe Bryant in his face, only to throw an errant pass to Carmelo Anthony and Bryant berating him for missing the moment?
This year, James barely bothered to show up at all, announcing during his news conference he was resting his ailing foot and ankle in preparation for the Lakers’ stretch run, withdrawing from Sunday night’s activities.
It wasn’t that long ago when we had irrational conversations about a meaningless game, but it showed there was passion from everybody and it spilled into the culture.
It might’ve been toxic, but we all agreed on wanting what was best for the present and future of the game. Now, we can’t agree on much except this weekend isn’t what it used to be, and nobody knows how to get it back.
It’s almost fitting this All-Star Game took place in San Francisco rather than Oakland. The essence, the lifeblood, the competition feels rooted in Oakland — and the fans who watched the players practice there Saturday afternoon showed every ounce of it.
Saturday night and Sunday night was at sprawling Chase Center, a state-of-the-art facility that has all the amenities, luxury boxes and opulence that comes with being in the heart of Silicon Valley.
And at times, you could barely feel the energy inside the building, except for few precious moments. Too nice to try, too cool to compete.
Nobody wants to be embarrassed, nobody wants to be on X screens or the Instagram streets.
“We got our pride on the line every night,” Kevin Durant said. “Somebody gets dunked on or crossed up, it’s going to be on House of Highlights. So I don’t think that will be a reason why guys won’t play.”
James has taken a little criticism for not participating in the dunk contest, and maybe that’s where the coolness started, but he’s given more to the game than just about anyone — and continues to do so as he gets closer to hitting the silver anniversary mark in the league, so continuing to criticize him seems silly.
But if it started there, it has reached a crescendo recently. That’s why the dunk contest had Mac McClung winning for the third straight year — what’s he got to lose?
That’s why the Rising Stars were pushing Team Shaq’s OGs nearly to the limit because all they had was everything to gain. The players can’t be incentivized with money, because the salaries have gotten exorbitant and stand to rise even more with the new media-rights deal — and they’re worth it, mind you.
The players show extraordinary feats of athleticism and skill on a daily basis, and perhaps it isn’t talked about enough, with the toxic conversation surrounding the game turning the perception of it into one of boredom, even if it’s anything but.
But the excellence of basketball isn’t up for debate here, nor should it be. The game takes plenty of hits from all sides, and the appreciation for what goes into being excellent has gotten a bit lost.
Perhaps All-Star Weekend is the casualty of such conversation, the players fighting back from constant criticism.
Maybe.
Perhaps the way out of this tornado is for the standard-bearers — like LeBron, Steph and KD — to age out. Just like the NBA world is seemingly waiting for the next generation to take their place and send the mainstays to the retirement home in the games that count, it’s waiting for Anthony Edwards or Victor Wembanyama or someone, anyone, to turn this game on its head.
To compete so hard that it shames the other players into doing the same. That could very well be the only solution here, because it’s not about formats or target scores or any other hokey invention.
And let’s be honest, too, some guys would rather spend a few days in Cabo to hit a quick reset than more days of obligations and appearances during an arduous season.
“Is it extra work? Sure. [But] it’s an honor every time your name is called,” Edwards said. “It’s my third time so, I’m super happy. But it is extra work because everything is mandatory.”
It’s easy to place this at the feet of commissioner Adam Silver. Nobody likes the bosses, so, of course, he’s a convenient target, and more than anyone can imagine, he’s also a true fan of the game, so he often puts his finger on the scale without apology.
The league office has listened to the players over the years, from the Elam Ending to the players picking their own teams a week before or live in the pregame, catering, cajoling and even begging them to play with a level of effort we usually see in those summer videos with Rico Hines or at Life Time Fitness.
And yet, we continue to get different variations of the same All-Star slop, because the care factor isn’t high enough for the players — and Silver can’t order them to put forth a playoff effort or even October preseason effort.
“I feel like everyone is grown men. You cannot force anybody to play hard if he doesn’t want to,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo — out with a calf injury— in his pregame news conference Sunday. “For me, when I come to this weekend, I come to compete against the best. I take my pregame nap. I get my treatment the night before. I don’t go out. I have my pregame meal. I treat it like a game because I want to give my ‘A’ game against the best players in the world.”
There’s gotta be a way to serve all of the objectives that come with an All-Star Weekend — and before anyone says, “It’s just an exhibition,” remember it’s the league’s biggest moneymaker outside of the playoffs and Finals.
There’s no negative judgment on the entertainment element. Raphael Saadiq, En Vogue and E-40 all represent the Bay Area and put on great shows, and we’re a week removed from the Super Bowl, the crown jewel of everything in sports, having a halftime show that put Broadway musicals to shame.
The clutching of pearls and behaving as if this should just be a game and nothing more is silly. You can accept and embrace entertaining an increasingly fickle crowd, both in the arena and those watching at home, without forgetting the game itself.
“Paying homage and giving honor to [TNT’s] Kenny [Smith], Shaq [O’Neal], Chuck [Barkley] and Ernie [Johnson], for them representing the game of basketball in their way for, what, three decades,” Curry said of the odd in-game ceremony to honor the TNT legends. “It felt like the game kind of got in the way a little bit, which was different.”
The NBA isn’t making change after change just for the sake of it. It wants the players to believe in it, because once they do the people will follow.
Curry was part of a group that worked with the league on this new format, and like everything, there’s unintended consequences like getting cold in between games or having Kevin Hart annoy us all with his hijinks.
“Obviously there was a lot of conversation around the fourth team and the Rising Stars,” Curry said. “The All-Star experience on Sunday is very sacred, and you have to work your way into that. But I think it was a good step in the right direction to reinvigorate the game in some way, and then you tinker with it again next year and see what changes you can make.”
That fourth team wouldn’t be here if the current players treated the game with the reverence it’s due, or if the players showed the game itself was enough.
They’ll keep tinkering, they’ll keep trying, but nothing will change until someone decides to … try.
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