Former Top Sports Executive Questions Adam Silver’s All-Star Announcement Amid Pushback

After years of incessant complaining from fans about the dismal state of the All-Star Game, the NBA has made radical changes to the marquee event. The league has scraped the two-game format. Instead, it will be a mini-tournament between four teams. Three will feature All-Stars and the fourth will be the winner of the Rising Stars challenge. Fans are on board with the new format but the players are apprehensive. It suggested that they had no input in the process of establishing the new format, which left David Samson astounded.

The former Miami Marlins president called out league commissioner Adam Silver for not keeping the players in the loop about the alterations to the All-Star game’s format. He pointed out that the players’ disinterest in playing hard was the reason why they needed to make the change to the event.

He asked why the league’s front office was confident that stars would be open to competing ferociously in the new format if they without consulting them about it. In a scathing rant on the Nothing Personal with David Samson podcast, he said,

“When you’re announcing changes to the All-Star game, how do you not have player involvement and player buy-in? So that when you make an announcement for a change, that you have certain players ready to go talk about that this is what we wanted, this is a great idea. Instead, Kevin Durant comes out and just says I hate it.”

Samson’s take is spot on considering two of the league’s biggest stars have already indicated that they dislike the format. When Kevin Durant was asked about the changes, he bluntly said,

“Terrible. We should just go back to East-West. Just play a game.”

The Suns superstar seemingly isn’t too keen on playing two games during the All-Star break. While Durant thrashed the new format, James used the discourse to highlight another massive problem in today’s NBA.

LeBron James shares opinion on the All-Star game

When asked about his feelings about the new format, the Lakers superstar indicated that he wasn’t a big fan but he’s open to change. He said,

“Something had to change. I was not part of the committee. It’s different, but I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll see when we get there. It’s different. Obviously any time you make some type of change there’s gonna be some [blowback]…  We gotta do something. The last couple of years have not been a great All-Star Game, that Sunday night.”

However, he also alluded to the alarming dip in the NBA’s viewership and claimed that the league needs some radical changes. He said,

“It’s not just the All-Star Game. It’s our game in general. There’s a lot of f***ing 3s being shot. So it’s a bigger conversation than just the All-Star Game.”

James, who was expected to be a relic of the past in the three-ball era, tweaked his game and avoided going out of fashion like Carmelo Anthony did. However, that doesn’t mean he’s a fan of it.