Since the past few seasons, the NBA All-Star games have attracted much scrutiny due to their lackluster nature over time. Many experts and sports journalists, including Marcus Lamar, believe that All-Star games have lost their charm and started to become uninteresting due to the laziness of the NBA players and lack of effort.
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NBA commissioner Adam Silver has now taken full responsibility for such a phenomenon. Over the last few years, the All-Star games have increasingly focused on the half-time activities and other pre-game rituals that account for the commercial aspects of the All-Star weekend.
Furthermore, players are also arguing about not injuring themselves over an exhibition game as such. Expressing his discontentment on the same, Marcus Lamar ranted,
“Chris Paul, you need to knock it off! Adam Silver, you need to knock it off! Y’all know good and damn well that the NBA All-Star Game sucks because the players are too lazy. And the argument we religiously hear is, we are not trying to get injured in a meaningless game or an exhibition game. That’s cap. No one’s trying to hear that. Because we see all throughout the summer, ya’ll be up in New York at Chris Brickley’s gym, going ham!”
It seems like 4x NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal also understands the deterioration of the All-Star games over the years. The 15x All-Star resonates with Marcus Lamar’s take on how the NBA players have stopped treating the All-Star game with any such competitive spirit, unlike the yesteryears of the league. Big Diesel shared his discontentment by uploading the journalist’s reel on his Instagram story.
Just a few days back, Chris Paul had come up with an explanation, reasoning behind the lack of seriousness and competitiveness among the current generation of NBA All-Stars. The Warriors PG noted that the NBA changing the players’ pregame protocols directly affects their mentality and mindset to play the All-Star game with the same seriousness as a regular-season game.
Well, with regards to Chris Paul’s remark, Marcus Lamar noted how most NBA players would be playing scrimmages more seriously than a much-anticipated fixture of the league. This, as per Lamar, portrayed the laziness of the current generation of players, which was hardly the case for the previous generations.
Adam Silver takes responsibility for the lack of competition in the recent All-Star games
Commissioner Adam Silver recently took all responsibility, accounting for the lack of competition in the recent All-Star games. In response to this, Silver has confirmed that the All-Star games will return to the former Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format, putting the current player draft under the shelves.
Furthermore, the league will also be doing away with the untimed fourth-quarter Final Target Score. However, this does not change the way captains are decided for the teams. As Silver confirmed, the Captains will be named based on the top vote-getters from each conference. For this season, the league is planning on focusing on the theme ‘Back to basketball’ as a way to gain more fan interest.
Perhaps, the return to the East vs. West format for the All-Star games might bring in fairly more entertainment and vigor among fans than last year. It would be interesting to see how this decision pans out for Adam Silver and the league when the All-Star weekend commences for this season.
