Currently, in the United States the average life expectancy is 79. But the NBA’s once premier game has outlived its use.
Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis was a hard watch. The midseason showpiece had its worst ever television audience as a miniscule 4.59 million tuned in – a miserable number and one that was entirely predictable.
According to Sports Media Watch, viewership on TNT and TBS had a paltry 2.2 rating, eclipsing lows from 2021 and 2022 of a 3.1 rating and around six million viewers two years ago.
Viewership dropped by 27 percent from the 2022 version as ratings also decreased by 29 percent – the biggest fall since 2000. For context, that is almost a million viewers less than the NFL’s Germany game between Seattle Seahawks vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5.55m) which aired at 9.30am ET/6.30am PT on a Sunday morning in November.
LeBron James’ All-Star team did little to produce anything remotely comparable to prior eras
Team Giannis defeated Team LeBron in a ratings disaster, with less than five million tuning in
Fans can see the apathy for putting on a show and displaying competitiveness of bygone eras
It’s also painfully below the NFL’s failed attempt to reinvigorate their own meaningless All-Star equivalent in the Pro Bowl, which outscored the NBA All-Star Game by accumulating more than six million viewers.
After Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone held the poisoned clipboard for Team LeBron on Sunday, he expressed his disgust at the midseason format, while acknowledging that it was an honor to be included.
‘That is the worst basketball game ever played,’ he said postgame. ‘I don’t know if you can fix it.
‘They put on a show for the fans, but that is a tough game to sit through, I’m not going to lie.’
And Malone wasn’t the only participant to slam the All-Star Game.
Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown admitted afterwards: ‘That’s not basketball.’
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander admitted that players aren’t taking the event seriously, but when asked how to improve the All-Star Game, the fur-coat wearing Canadian could only offer: ‘money talks.’
‘The more incentives, I think the guys will take it seriously,’ Gilgeous-Alexander said after Sunday’s game. ‘With that being said, it’s super fun the way it is now, I have no complaints.’
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has a large headache with regard to the All-Star Game’s future
Memphis superstar Ja Morant will not participate in the dunk contest – a microcosm for a wider issue of disinterest for the fans, plaguing the modern-day National Basketball Association
The current format, centered around a pre-game All-Star draft, likely didn’t help matters.
With captains Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James choosing teams from a pool of All-Stars, fans were given a reminder of the league’s constant roster upheaval. Opportunistic stars have been criticized in recent years for leveraging their way from one team to another, in hopes of chasing a title and bolstering their legacies.
Nets fans, for instance, have watched All-Stars Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden force their way out of Brooklyn only a few years after joining forces for what many presumed to be a championship run.
Meanwhile, fans have become an afterthought in the modern-day NBA. A star resting for a Wednesday night tip-off in December is now a mere footnote in the post-game report.
Fans, many of whom pinch pennies to afford NBA tickets, are now missing out on seeing their favorite players on a far too regular basis.
And Sunday’s exhibition was far pricier than any regular-season matchup.
Tickets to an All-Star Game, according to NBC Sports, can be as low as $400 but skyrocket to $27,000 for those looking for a VIP or meet-and greet experience, according to Ticketmaster.
With the regular season now holding as little importance as ever, it should be a surprise to no one the meaningless All-Star Game has fallen further in players’ minds.
And the problem extends beyond the All-Star Game. Take the dunk contest, an event that had been criticized in recent years until G-Leaguer Mac McClung shocked NBA competition by winning on Saturday.
The notion that McClung – a man who has played only 25 minutes in the NBA – ‘saved’ the event on Saturday night is symptomatic of an unwillingness for modern day stars to participate.
James, for instance, has always denied fans the opportunity of seeing one of sports most athletic phenoms strut his stuff in the dunk contest.
Mac McClung stole the show in the Dunk Contest, but he should not need to be the savior
Jaysom Tatum won the Kobe Bryant MVP Trophy after dropping 55 points in the ASG Sunday
Denver Nuggets HC Mike Malone, who coached in the ASG, blatantly slammed the spectacle
Similarly, Memphis’ Ja Morant dismissively shut down hopes of his appearance. Asked at All-Star Weekend what it would take for him to participate, Morant stood firm: ‘I’m not doing the dunk contest.’
The idea that the dunk contest – in a league filled with some of the most physically-gifted humans on the planet – needed an obscure 24-year-old G-Leaguer says everything one needs to know.
Fans are not silly. They can see the apathy for putting on a show and displaying the competitiveness of bygone eras.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith did not hold back in his criticism of the annual midseason spectacle.
‘What we should be able to see, other than dunks, we should not be able to look at a basketball game and know that anybody could be on the court with you based on the effort you’re putting on display,’ he said on his First Take show.
‘It just reeks of a level of arrogance and taking fans for granted that we continue to lament.
‘So again, you know what, I just look at it from that perspective and I applaud Coach [Michael] Malone for highlighting the flagrant lack of effort.’
With 30 teams playing 82 regular-season games per year, the NBA is an oversaturated market. It’s no surprise the All-Star Game has taken the hit.
