EXCLUSIVE: “When Michael Jordan Went to Washington” – Roland Lazenby Details How Global Fame Has Changed the NBA All-Star Weekend

The NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis concluded on Sunday with the Eastern Conference All-Stars defeating the Western Conference Stars 211-186. This year’s festivities prompted mixed reactions from fans after the NBA implemented some changes in programming while also preserving certain traditions. In the wake of the blockbuster event, veteran sportswriter Roland Lazenby sat down with The SportsRush‘s Adit Pujari to offer a fresh perspective on the evolution of the All-Star Weekend over the years.

Lazenby is a renowned sportswriter who has written dozens of nonfiction books and countless articles and columns, which capture the intriguing inside stories of the basketball and football world in America. The author of books like The Lakers: A Basketball Journey, Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant, Bull Run! The Story of the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, and Michael Jordan: The Life, Lazenby has had a front-row seat to the NBA’s mid-season gala for decades now.

He noted, during the interview, how he could sense an alienation of the league’s age-old customs during the All-Star break with the rapid globalization of the NBA in the past two decades or so.

“The globalization of basketball has changed Public Relations in the NBA. This weekend we’re gonna have the NBA All-Star game. I used to go every year because I could hang out and talk to all sorts of people and have wonderful conversations. But that began to change about 2000, when Michael Jordan went to Washington,” Lazenby told The SportsRush.

He admitted that the NBA’s attempt to target a global audience has made the league more lucrative and a better brand. However, Lazenby lamented that the glitz and the glamor of the modern NBA has rendered candid conversations that he used to have with players in the locker room during the All-Star break a relic of the past. The Michael Jordan: The Life author noted that the locker rooms are too crowded nowadays to unfold engaging stories, that he so often does in his popular books.

Had the pleasure of interviewing Roland Lazenby for @TheSportsRushUS @lazenby pic.twitter.com/B3Tqey1jaD

— Adit Pujari (@pujariadit7) February 16, 2024

Instead the modern landscape is more interested in creating a more vibrant product that dazzles the audience. “That changed everything, particularly at the All-Star game, because you had these platoons of reporters and it sort of created a crushing crowd. And PR was suddenly managing everything,” the 72-year-old author added.

Meanwhile, Lazenby reminisced about a wonderful conversation that he had with the late great Kobe Bryant in the locker room before the 1997 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest. However, he noted in a dejected voice that those conversations are lost forever in today’s NBA. The crushing machine that is the NBA media makes it impossible for players to have sincere relationships with reporters anymore, something that Roland Lazenby had with Michael Jordan.