This year, the NBA shook up its All-Star Game by scrapping the old captain draft East vs. West vibe and introducing a USA vs. World round-robin format. Instead of one big exhibition, three teams played 12-minute games to decide who reached the final, adding national pride and a bit more competitive juice. Charles Barkley liked the idea but insisted more changes were needed.
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The NBA community noticed closer games and more effort on both ends of the floor throughout the showcase weekend. The USA Stars came out on top, winning the championship game, with Anthony Edwards named All-Star Game MVP.
It was a nice injection of excitement into a weekend that has become largely forgettable over the years. Many agreed that the new format was an improvement, including Barkley. The NBA legend spoke about ASG weekend during the latest edition of Inside the NBA on ESPN. Of course, Chuck still had his criticisms like he always does.
“I thought it was better. I’d like to see it shortened it even more. They only played a quarter, so don’t give them a cookie for playing hard for a quarter,” joked the Hall of Famer.
And while he’s not wrong, he should relish in the fact that the format actually gave the Inside the NBA crew something to talk about rather than doing their silly bits.
Chuck‘s critiques aside, he did enjoy how unique the format was in comparison to the past. However, he thinks that instead of the round-robin three-team format, it should just be Team USA versus The World in a winner-take-all.
“It should be United States against The World. It’s too many games. I don’t think LeBron and those guys want to play, and Kawhi, they don’t want to play a bunch of games. I’d like to see it shorter personally but I thought it was a good weekend for the NBA,” said Barkley.
“I don’t think it’s going to be Game 7 intensity, but you can’t come out there and give up 200 points and think it was competitive. I mean we were bordering on 200 points,” he added.
That part is certainly true, but again, with nothing really to play for other than pride, does it really matter what the final box score is?
Honestly, as fun as the round-robin tourney was, All-Star Weekend still does not have the same stakes. The MLB seems to be the only league that truly embraced making the game matter. Whichever league wins gets home-field advantage in the World Series. Couldn’t the NBA just adopt this format? They could, but that seems to be one idea too many for Adam Silver and company.
Regardless, another All-Star Weekend is in the books. Guys like Ant and Victor Wembanyama came out looking like a million bucks because they put in an effort when all the eyes in the world were on them. The All-Star Game might not matter right now, but it is nice to see that it does to the future stars of the NBA.
