All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry named All Star MVP

Summary

The Athletic NBA Daily: All Star Weekend Decode | Stephen Curry Named All-Star MVP Release Date: February 17, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of The Athletic NBA Daily, hosts Dave DuFour, Esfandiar Baraheni (referred to as Esperahenny), and Zena Keita delve into the intricacies of the 2025 All-Star Weekend. The discussion centers around the revamped All-Star Game format, standout performances, and the overall atmosphere of the weekend's events. The hosts provide critical insights, backed by memorable quotes and analyses from their conversation.

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Format Changes and Broadcast Critiques

The 2025 All-Star Game introduced a new format aimed at increasing competition and player engagement. However, this shift sparked mixed reactions regarding the actual presentation and execution.

• Reduced Game Play:

  • Dave DuFour expressed disappointment with the limited actual basketball showcased, stating, “We got 30 minutes and 30 seconds of actual basketball action on the three games” ([05:00]).
  • Esperahenny echoed this sentiment, highlighting the imbalance between entertainment segments and gameplay: “Three games up to 40. That took 30 minutes and 30 seconds of a two and a half hour broadcast” ([05:19]).

• Increased Entertainment Over Gameplay:

  • The hosts criticized the extensive presence of entertainer Kevin Hart on the broadcast, which overshadowed the basketball: “There was at least as much if not more Kevin Hart on the broadcast as there was basketball” ([05:25]).
  • Esperahenny pointed out Hart's substantial screen time: “Official screen time for Kevin Hart was 21 minutes. But if you add the talking and the broadcast, it's way over 31” ([05:33]).

• Extended Stoppages and Interruptions:

  • Frequent breaks and entertainment segments were seen as detrimental to the game's flow, potentially leading to player fatigue and injuries. Esperahenny noted, “There were 17 minute breaks... And I know live music has always been a part of the All Star Sunday night... But not in the middle of the game” ([06:16]).

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Standout Performances and Player Highlights

Despite criticisms, the All-Star Weekend featured notable performances that garnered praise from the hosts.

• Stephen Curry's MVP Performance:

  • Dave DuFour lauded Curry's ability to elevate the game's excitement, especially during extended breaks: “Steph Curry hits a half court shot and all of a sudden we're all right back in” ([08:43]).
  • Esperahenny commended Curry's flair: “Steph was fun. He brought the fun to it” ([09:20]).

• Dame Lillard and Kyrie Irving:

  • Both players demonstrated competitiveness, with Esperahenny emphasizing their dedication: “Most of the guys said, we would like to go back to east west. But they talked about the breaks actually limiting their ability to be competitive” ([06:16]).

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Dunk Contest Dominance: Mac McClung

A significant highlight of the weekend was Mac McClung's unprecedented achievement in the dunk contest.

• Three-Time Champion:

  • Esperahenny highlighted McClung's distinction: “He is now a three-time slam dunk contest champion” ([16:32]).
  • Dave DuFour acknowledged the frenzy surrounding McClung: “He's the dunk king” ([16:32]).

• Innovative Dunking Techniques:

  • McClung's ability to perform over-the-top dunks, such as jumping over a car, set him apart from traditional NBA players: “He jumped over a freaking car. It was awesome” ([16:32]).
  • Law Murray praised the spectacle: “That dude cleared that car and didn't face plant. And I thought it was incredible” ([22:48]).

• Impact on the Dunk Contest's Prestige:

  • The hosts debated whether professional dunkers like McClung have overshadowed NBA talent: “There are people who do dunking at a higher level than NBA players” ([11:20]).
  • Esperahenny suggested that the contest might be entering a “post-dunk contest” era, questioning its future relevance: “We don't care about it as much” ([11:36]).

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Interviews and Expert Insights

The episode features an in-depth interview with Law Murray, providing expert perspectives on the All-Star Weekend.

• Expectations vs. Reality:

  • Law Murray shared his initial skepticism about the new format: “My expectations were quite low” ([19:01]).
  • He appreciated moments of genuine competition but felt overall energy was dampened by frequent stoppages: “There were a lot of stoppages, and this is my commentary. This is also some player feedback” ([20:05]).

• Venue and Cultural Integration:

  • Highlighting the event's location at the Chase Center, Law Murray emphasized the importance of integrating local culture: “It needs to celebrate the city and not just the Hollywood part of the city” ([29:19]).
  • Esperahenny concurred, applauding the hosts' efforts to represent both Oakland and San Francisco: “Seeing two Bay Area kids... it was dope to see them be able to shine in their hometown” ([27:42]).

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Overall Assessment and Future Recommendations

The hosts concluded their analysis by rating the weekend and offering suggestions for future All-Star events.

• Rating the Weekend:

  • Dave DuFour assigned a 7.5 out of 10, acknowledging the fun elements but critiquing the broadcast execution: “I would give this a seven and a half” ([17:31]).
  • Esperahenny slightly adjusted this to a 7, focusing on the need for better integration of basketball: “I would give it like a seven, seven and a half from the actual game perspective” ([17:42]).

• Suggestions for Improvement:

  • One-on-One Tournaments: Introducing more competitive formats that highlight individual player skills and personalities.
  • Reducing Non-Basketball Elements: Limiting entertainment segments that disrupt game flow, thereby maintaining energy and player engagement.
  • Enhanced Production Integration: Ensuring that in-arena experiences align with broadcast quality to meet audience expectations.

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Conclusion

The 2025 All-Star Weekend showcased both the NBA's efforts to innovate and the challenges that come with balancing entertainment and competitive integrity. While standout performances like Stephen Curry's MVP run and Mac McClung's dunking prowess provided memorable moments, the hosts emphasized the need for refining the broadcast and event structure to better serve both players and fans. The Athletic NBA Daily offers a comprehensive breakdown, equipping listeners with nuanced perspectives on the evolving landscape of the NBA All-Star festivities.

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Notable Quotes:

• Dave DuFour: “We got 30 minutes and 30 seconds of actual basketball action on the three games” ([05:00]).
• Esperahenny: “Official screen time for Kevin Hart was 21 minutes. But if you add the talking and the broadcast, it's way over 31” ([05:33]).
• Dave DuFour: “Steph Curry hits a half court shot and all of a sudden we're all right back in” ([08:43]).
• Law Murray: “My expectations were quite low” ([19:01]).
• Esperahenny: “He is now a three-time slam dunk contest champion” ([16:32]).
• Dave DuFour: “I would give this a seven and a half” ([17:31]).

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Listeners who missed the episode can catch up on the detailed breakdown of All-Star Weekend, including expert interviews and in-depth analysis of key performances and format changes.

Transcript

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[Law Murray]

Good.

[Dave Dufour]

Morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. Coming up, All Star Weekend. And man, there was not a lot of basketball in that broadcast. We got Xena caught up with Law Murray there at the arena and S and I try to make sense of the whole weekend. Good morning, everybody. Good morning.

[Esperahenny]

S. Good morning. Kevin Hart.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, a lot of Kevin Hart. Last night we had Xena Kada on assignment. After the break, she's gonna talk to Law Murray. They were both in the building talking about, you know, just the game and, and the atmosphere there. But S. I, I think that we've got to start with Sunday night with the game, new All Star format, you know.

[Esperahenny]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

Seemed like the broadcast wasn't very happy about the changes to, to the format. But I don't care whether they liked it or not. I thought it was number one. I thought that the games were pretty good. Yeah, the broadcast stunk.

[Esperahenny]

Well, do, do you mean the 30 minutes of basketball we got throughout the two and a half hour broadcast? Is that what you're implying?

[Dave Dufour]

So shrinkflation has come to the NBA all star game instead of our 48min basketball. We're we got. And S did the math. S sat and went through the file and did the math. 30 minutes and 30 seconds of actual basketball action on the three games.

[Esperahenny]

Three games up to 40. That took 30 minutes and 30 seconds of a two and a half hour broadcast.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, there was at least as much if not more Kevin Hart on the broadcast as there was basketball. Yes. Yeah.

[Liquid IV Spokesperson]

Yeah.

[Esperahenny]

Official screen time for Kevin Hart was 21 minutes. But if you add the talking and the broadcast, it's way over 31, like 21 years.

[Dave Dufour]

I'm not gonna lie, it was a lot of Kevin Hart. And look, I don't want to sit and just talk about the broadcast because the basketball game was fun.

[Law Murray]

It was.

[Dave Dufour]

I, I want to give the guys who I thought played really hard a lot of credit. I thought Kyrie Irving brought really good energy. Victor Wenyama was great and tried to put on a show and then was visibly upset when his team gave up the win on a relatively easy basket. As. Let's, let's just start there with the format change. They're trying to get more competition to make the game matter more, make the guys care about it more. What did you just think, like overall from that point?

[Esperahenny]

I love the format, love the new format. I think they could add some tweaks to it, maybe extend the games, make it up to 50 instead of 40. I think maybe they could do, instead of a rising stars team, they could do an all snub team or another all star team in there dividing the team more. Fine. All of that, those are tweaks that you can do to the format to improve it. But overall, the format did what it needed to in terms of making it a little bit more competitive. And you saw what the players said post game. Most of the guys said, we would like to go back to east west. But they talked about the breaks actually limiting their ability to be competitive. So if you want to talk about who's at fault for this year's All Star Game, it's not the players. The players put their full effort in. Said, okay, fine, we are going to buy into this format. But unfortunately there were 17 minute breaks. There were breaks to commemorate broadcasts and to do a performance and all that type of stuff. And I know live music has always been a part of the All Star Sunday night. Totally cool down for it. But not in the middle of the game. Not to extend time. It actually could cause injury. It could cause more injuries. And that's something some of the guys post game said to. So it's not just us complaining about this, you know. No, I think. You know what, one thing, Dave, just say this. The NBA, for all its intents and purposes, overcorrected on the idea that we had an All Star Game issue. Instead of improving what was the actual format, which they did, they said, all right, we're going to go ahead and add Kevin Hart to the broadcast. Mr. Beast is going to do a half court shot contest. There's going to be this fluff that we're going to add to it.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Esperahenny]

Not knowing that we just wanted to see a good basketball game, truthfully, and we got good basketball. It's just that it was only 30 minutes of good basketball. That's the issue here.

[Dave Dufour]

The one thing the NBA is supposed to give us is basketball, Solila. And that's all we want. And man, they gave us a lot of other stuff anyway. I don't want to just sit and critique the broadcast. The basketball was fun. It was good. And I will say this, my favorite part. Steph Curry really opened it up after they had long break. It was 11 to 1 in the championship game. They took this 20 minute long break to do a tribute, a self tribute to the inside cast. Who. They're not going anywhere, folks. They're going to be around next year. I don't understand this. They sent them fishing. I, I mean, I don't know.

[Esperahenny]

Yeah, see we keep coming back to.

[Dave Dufour]

That because it was so off putting. But Steph Curry is a showman. Steph. Steph Curry hits a half court shot and all of a sudden we're all right back in and what do you know, like s. An all star game broke out. These guys started throwing behind the back passes. We had Steph obviously just launching and then the funniest moment of the entire night happened. Steph Curry, It's. It's a 39 point game. Steph Curry's dribbling up. He's so obviously about to launch from behind half court for a game winner and he got whistled for an eight second violation.

[Esperahenny]

That's comedy.

[Dave Dufour]

If it's like no notes whatsoever.

[Esperahenny]

No notes. It's the perfect way to describe what had happened tonight. Anticipation. And then just taking away that anticipation. It was, it was comedy in itself. Yeah, look, Steph was fun. He brought the fun to it. And I think Golden State, San Francisco, the Bay did a great job of like bringing in their culture and everything. I thought the performances were great. Steph doing his thing. He even said post game where he was like this was awesome for us to host it. But I think overall like you look at the weekend, I mean this, the, the dunk contest was probably the highlight of the weekend in my opinion. Just because Mac McClung dunked over a. And you saw the three do that. The three. Let's talk about it.

[Dave Dufour]

Let's go ahead and talk about it. It's on our rundown. Look.

[Esperahenny]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

Mac McClung, three time champion. I see a lot of people saying he's the greatest dunker ever. But he's a professional dunker though.

[Esperahenny]

Yes. Yeah, right.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. But he's not an NBA player. So this is just. We're doing a different thing. Okay.

[Esperahenny]

He has a two way contract. He is technically an NBA player. But as he has played five NBA games and has three slam dunk championships to his name. That's the, that's the truth.

[Dave Dufour]

And the thing is the guy is a G league level player. Like. And he's a good basketball player. Good basketball player. A good league.

[Esperahenny]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

But he's not an NBA guy. And I understand people feeling like Mac McClung and just being in the game and then winning three in a row.

[Esperahenny]

Right.

[Dave Dufour]

Has cheapened it by the way.

[Esperahenny]

Like that. That's why Mac can do these things that other guys can't because he can risk it for jumping over a car, for jumping over this guy, getting on a ladder, etc. Etc. Like this part is something that Mack can do because it is so much more worth it for him than for Stefan Castle who's on a rookie deal with the Spurs. You can't jump over a car.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, they would.

[Esperahenny]

They're not going to let him jump over.

[Dave Dufour]

That's not going to. They're not signing. I don't know if Kia can pay enough to sign off on the insurance.

[Law Murray]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

I mean the other thing is I think one of the bigger problems we have and like there are pro dunkers. Let's just keep that in mind. Right. There are people who do dunking at a higher level than NBA players. Yeah. I think dunking is too mainstream. Like we just don't care about it as much.

[Esperahenny]

We like desensitized.

[Dave Dufour]

Right.

[Esperahenny]

Yes.

[Dave Dufour]

And so when you look at the way Mac McClung won the dunk contest, it's a lot of props. He's jumping over people. He very impressively actually jumped over the roof of a car.

[Esperahenny]

Yes.

[Dave Dufour]

That was awesome. To watch a human being do that.

[Esperahenny]

Reverse, which is crazy.

[Dave Dufour]

It was sick. But you are looking at a professional dunker, not an NBA player. So to me, like, I just think that we're maybe in a post dunk contest sort of situation here. Rather than trying to fix the dunk contest. I, I just, I don't think that there's a fix. I, I don't even know. Like if you have stars do it, they're not going to do anything new.

[Esperahenny]

They got to give people what they want. It's the one on one tournament. Everybody wants the one on one tournament. You, we talked about it with unrivaled.

[Dave Dufour]

Just did it. Right.

[Esperahenny]

Doing it successfully. Just bring the one on one tournament to the NBA. And I think there's a couple guys who've mentioned that throughout this weekend. Why not?

[Dave Dufour]

I mean, I think the other thing Is it allows them a chance to show off their personalities a little bit. I'm gonna make a couple of wrestling pro wrestling references here. Number one, like when you look at the way that the dunk contest has become very gimmick heavy, like I said, props and stuff like that, kind of like using like these big spots in wrestling, like a guy, you know, going through chairs. But I just don't like with the one on one tournament, you give a chance for these guys to kind of cut promos, they can talk on camera, maybe, you know, a little bit of trash talk. Unravel did a really good job. I mean, Nafisia Collier won, but she came across like a wrestling heel by saying that she's the best player in the world. And I think the NBA guys would embrace that quite a bit. It'd be a fun chance for us to get them, you know, talking a little bit of trash, playing hard against each other, showing off some of the pride, which is the thing that we really care about when we're watching them hoop 100%.

[Esperahenny]

I mean, I'm with you. I think it's just about getting buy in from the players. And I think if you get players to sign on to do this to play a one on one tournament, it's gonna be successful. Look, the all star format, like the all star weekend, you don't have to like change the wheel here. You know what I mean? Yes. One on one tournament would be incredible. But for the most part you can keep things to the tradition of what it usually is and it typically works. Skills competition, for instance.

[Dave Dufour]

Right, right.

[Esperahenny]

I enjoyed the skills competition when it was actually about the skills of the players instead of the timing. So go back to what it usually was. Or you remember when they did bigs versus guards?

[Dave Dufour]

Yes.

[Esperahenny]

That was entertaining. Change it back to the. I don't know, it just feels like they're trying to do too much gimmicks to each little thing that's happening throughout.

[Dave Dufour]

Let's talk about the skills contest. Okay, so the loophole. All right. Donovan. Donovan Mitchell. Evan Mobley won. Nobody really cares.

[Esperahenny]

Doesn't even matter. Shout out to Cavs fans.

[Liquid IV Spokesperson]

That's right.

[Esperahenny]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

They're. They're going to hang this banner next to the championship banner if they win this year.

[Esperahenny]

Yes.

[Dave Dufour]

But we got to talk. The spurs got disqualified because Victor Wimyama asked the referees about a particular rule. And if they, if they just made attempts without making.

[Esperahenny]

Yeah, just throwing the ball at the wall.

[Dave Dufour]

Exactly. So you know, by now obviously, like if you guys followed all Star Weekend. You probably saw this. Look, I. Number one, I don't know why you're trying to cheat at. At this sort of thing. It's not really clever, as a matter of fact. And like I will say, trying to cheat is bad, but we could laugh at this. This is actually kind of funny.

[Law Murray]

It is.

[Dave Dufour]

And the worst part about the entire thing as to me is that Chris Paul and Victor Wimanyama, after, you know, finding out they're disqualified, Ali laforce tries to interview them and the NBA shut it down. And it's like, look, man, like this is supposed to be a fan of.

[Esperahenny]

It, supposed to be fun.

[Dave Dufour]

That was funny. Even though I don't. I didn't love it, it's still. I can laugh at it. Let him talk. Let's see what the story is. I'm with you.

[Esperahenny]

I'm with you. And look like we still got post game clips from both of them. You know, Wemby still went on to say he's like, Chris Paul got booed.

[Dave Dufour]

And not him, which he's right about.

[Esperahenny]

By the way, which is true. And he said, look, it's my idea. I thought of this entire thing. And Chris kind of reiterated that Draymond Green said that it was Wednesday. So, like we still got post game clips basically of these guys talking about the situation. But imagine if we had it live when they were realizing that they were going to get disqualified. And the.

[Dave Dufour]

The.

[Esperahenny]

I believe it was like an NBA staff member handing them the paper.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Esperahenny]

Reading that they're about to get disqualified. That's funny. It was funny comedy, you know.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. That was one of my favorite moments from the whole weekend. I mean, I. Again, the dunk contest was good. I, I enjoyed it. I think Stephen Castle, the. The dunk off the bank shot, the catch off the shot. Very impressive.

[Esperahenny]

Yeah. The little behind the back dunk too, from Steph Castle was really nice.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. But Mac McClung Good, actually. Yeah. And fun. I. He jumped over a freaking car. It was awesome.

[Xena Keda]

He's.

[Esperahenny]

You know, the crazy thing about this is like we now care about Mac McClung because he is a three time slam dunk contest champion.

[Dave Dufour]

Right.

[Esperahenny]

He has earned the greatest ever do it.

[Dave Dufour]

Technically.

[Esperahenny]

Technically, yes. Yeah. But you know, like now it's created this story, this narrative about, about Mac if, if you go to G League games. You know, I was, I was at a G League game like two weeks ago watching Mac. The amount of fanfare for him at these games is incredible. Like autograph sessions, players waiting for him. There's fans waiting all around the arena. He is now a celebrity in his own right because of this dunk contest.

[Dave Dufour]

He's the dunk king. So I guess as score the weekend. I don't know. Give it, give it a scale of 1 to 10. What do you give the weekend? And it. Because fun is all that matters here. That's all I care about when I'm watching anything All Star related. It maybe wasn't as fun as that. Team usa, Team Canada, four nations match. Which was awesome, right?

[Esperahenny]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

I, I would give this a seven and a half. I think it was fun. It was fine. The parts of it that were bad were. I would blame the broadcast. In the NBA, the players were great.

[Esperahenny]

Yeah, I agree. I thought the players bought into this and I thought for the most part like the NBA got what it wanted from the players in terms of buy in. And so I would give it like a seven, seven and a half from the actual game perspective. Everything else is a question mark. But I mean that's, that's something that can be easily fixed. If there's one positive you can take away from this for next year is like, oh, we now know what we need to fix. You don't have to overcorrect it, but you can fix it and take it away and just make it about basketball.

[Dave Dufour]

That's it guys. Stick around. After the break, Xena caught up with Laura Murray and they had a lot to say about the All Star Game.

[Esperahenny]

Foreign.

[Xena Keda]

We are here live at Chase center right when the new format of the 2025 All Star Game has finished up. We're literally on the court so everyone can see. I got Law Murray here known for covering the entire league. But really Clippers of which there was one represented during the All Star Game. Overall, let's just be real. What were your expectations Law coming into this All Star Game?

[Law Murray]

Oh, my expectations were quite low. I was not a fan of this format at all because I felt like I've seen target score things. I just felt like there wasn't going to be a lot of basketball. Well, I think that this was going to be something that was to just get as get. Get the quality to hoop up because you just couldn't get the quantity right. Yeah. You know.

[Xena Keda]

Right, right, right, right.

[Law Murray]

We're not. So this year it's like, yeah, the quality is not going to be there. At least what you do see, you're hoping for more. I thought there were pockets where you saw that.

[Esperahenny]

Yeah.

[Xena Keda]

But there was a little bit of competition. Like I feel like. Yeah, I, I heard Steph say that when you talk to Kyrie Irving, when they were coming into this, like, hey.

[Dave Dufour]

Are we gonna ball?

[Xena Keda]

Are we gonna play ball? Like, are we actually gonna compete? And they're like, yeah. And so you saw aspects of Kyrie. You saw Steph, MVP of the game, like, turn up a little bit. You saw Dame Lillard getting a tie up, get a jump ball even. So it's like, all right, a little bit of competition here, particularly when the young guys were going with the old guys. But overall, it still felt a little dead in here. What was the atmosphere like to you?

[Law Murray]

I felt like there were moments. If we're just talking about the All Star Game Sunday, I thought, like, there were some. Some cool moments throughout today. I thought the worst part and when we're talking about energy and atmosphere, I thought that when there were a lot of stoppages, and this is my commentary. This is also some player feedback. Those stoppages were really difficult. There are already stoppages in between the games themselves.

[Xena Keda]

Sure.

[Law Murray]

When you're transferring two teams off, two teams on. These intros are long. This weekend was long. I did not expect. After the score was 11 to 1 in the final game and you're already playing that game, the 40. This wasn't like Friday night and there's.

[Xena Keda]

No clock, so that was hard. Yeah.

[Law Murray]

You know, I felt like that was a. That was a 10 to 15 minute stoppage. You had the handover and then you had the tribute.

[Xena Keda]

Yep.

[Law Murray]

And then you had another commercial break after that. Because it's a TV product.

[Xena Keda]

Right.

[Law Murray]

And you had to actually put commercials in there. Those guys, it was like the halftime super bowl with no Kendrick.

[Xena Keda]

They were having to be really patient and keep the energy up. And I think that was one of the negatives, like, of this game was that there were. There was a lot of production on TV that we didn't get to experience in the arena that didn't meet the hype of what people I think experience outside. So I did hear that a lot of people enjoyed the actual production of the game.

[Law Murray]

I'm glad for them.

[Xena Keda]

Yeah.

[Law Murray]

It was because it felt. It sounded like the opposite of Saturday night. Saturday, there was feedback where it's like, this doesn't sound like this is coming through.

[Xena Keda]

Yeah.

[Law Murray]

Energy. But the energy.

[Xena Keda]

The energy was great.

[Law Murray]

I thought it was really good, especially.

[Xena Keda]

Let's stay on that topic. Like, I think one of my highlights of the whole weekend, in terms of, like, the product on the All Star Core Mac McClunks Dunk Compilation, it is insane that he decided to Dunk over Ikea for not the dunk, but his first dunk.

[Law Murray]

First one. And the most important part of that is he had to follow two very. Two. Two contenders. Two contestants who weren't good, you know?

[Dave Dufour]

Right.

[Law Murray]

Matas tried this dunk, and he kept failing. He. I don't think he completed it. Andre Jackson Jr. His vert is amazing. His actual ability to dunk the basketball was not. And the crowd was creative.

[Xena Keda]

Right?

[Law Murray]

Right. I mean, and Andre was frustrated. Like, after a while, he's like, he gave up and didn't want to be, like, monetized and get a 40 for not Duncan, you know, so when that car came out, there was some grows because it's like, the last time you saw that was Blake Griffin. We know that Mac McClung plays for the Magic, who happened to play in the Kia center in Orlando, Florida.

[Xena Keda]

But, oh, Kia executives were very happy.

[Law Murray]

I'm sure they were. You know what I mean? But you know what? That dude cleared that car and didn't face plant. And I thought it was incredible. When I saw the athletic feet of that human, I was. I was insane. I was in.

[Xena Keda]

Yeah.

[Law Murray]

You know, I was thinking, okay, this is about to be awake, right? And. And said it woke the crowd up.

[Xena Keda]

I was the first thing that came out of my mouth when I saw that car. When I saw that car come out, I was like, I'm legitimately scared for his health. Like, I was legitimately scared that he might not clear it and we would. Might. We might see something gruesome because it just seemed crazy. He had barely warmed up. Like, that was his very first dunk. He clears the car, and then he goes on to go do multiple acrobatic, core inducing type of dunks that I'm just like, this man just lives for this. Mind you, I covered Mac McClung in the G League. He's a hard worker, he's a scorer, etc, but clearly his money is in the top contest.

[Law Murray]

Yeah.

[Xena Keda]

That's where he's making his money.

[Law Murray]

It's. He's an interesting story because he's the exact opposite of who everybody wants to see. You know, people will talk about, we need a star to carry it. And I think people only say that because of what it looks like 25 years later. You saw Vince, you know, they. And. And. And can I. We should talk about this. You know, like, the setup I thought was about to do those guys a disservice because so much of it was about Vince Carter and what he did and reminding people in the building. Y I don't know if this came through on tv. Reminding people in the building, this is what y'all haven't.

[Xena Keda]

Like this shaming a little bit of like, this is what it's not been for so many years. This is what it could have been or it could be, but you won't do it.

[Law Murray]

Yeah, it felt like the wrong kind of church. I was really concerned about how that was going to look. But to see and. And you know what? Matt couldn't do this alone. Saturday night. Stefan Castle is going to be amazing. There are guys unreal. We celebrate Aaron Gordon for not winning but setting a bar that Zach Levine had to clear. I'm old enough to remember Andrew got robbed of a dunk contest that Nate Robinson won in the 2000s. And people, you know, that is a part of this. Matt can't just be good by himself. And it's like he's clearing everybody that. That's. Stefan Castle wins that dunk contest most years, right?

[Xena Keda]

Yes, Agreed.

[Law Murray]

And that conflicts that idea of, you know, Stephanie Castle could easily be a star in five years. You know, let's talk about that. He's got to clean his jump shot up. He's gotta, you know, obviously develop that chemistry with Victor when Benyama. But he can easily be the number two to Vicks number one, you know, or the number three if the Aaron, like, depending on things, that guy could be your quote unquote star. But his ability to compete and to entertain was needed for Mac McClung to have the impact that he had.

[Xena Keda]

You need a foil.

[Law Murray]

And the crowd felt that.

[Xena Keda]

Correct. You need a foil. You need character development. And if Mac is out here just bodying dudes with no competition, it's not as fun. What was really cool about this year's competition, I think was other stars were watching and were like, wait, I want.

[Law Murray]

To do this capping.

[Xena Keda]

Like, they were like, oh, I want to do this. I can do this. Like, it was almost like motivation for other people to get back on.

[Law Murray]

Was it, though? Look, we're going to. Your phone's going to remind you that we did this a year ago. You know what I'm saying? It's going to ask you politely, do you want to see this memory?

[Xena Keda]

Right, right, right, right.

[Law Murray]

And. And we're going to laugh. You're going to hit me. We're going to laugh like, okay, I will say this. Shout out to Mack McClung. Shout out to the young guys. They were all young guys.

[Esperahenny]

Yeah.

[Law Murray]

Mac was the oldest dude doing it.

[Xena Keda]

Yeah, yeah, he's.

[Law Murray]

He's been in the year for three two way contracts. You know what I mean?

[Xena Keda]

It's crazy.

[Law Murray]

Like the rest of those guys were.

[Xena Keda]

He is now the most winningest dunk contest contestant. I'm not sure what.

[Law Murray]

He did it three years in a row. Like there's three time winner, but.

[Xena Keda]

Okay, got it. Okay. Thank you for that clarity. Okay, well, all right. That was my highlight.

[Law Murray]

What was your highlight of the weekend or just today?

[Xena Keda]

The weekend.

[Law Murray]

The weekend. My highlight of the weekend. Honestly, I wanted to see how this was going to look overall.

[Xena Keda]

Yeah.

[Law Murray]

And I probably got the most excited for the dunk contest, but I did want to see if. If things were going to look a certain type of way. Like, I'm glad that Steph Curry got his moment. Like, yeah, you're not. You're pro. You're probably not going to get another Bay Area all star in his playing career. And that's a. And that's a great thing for him. You know, Damian Lillard got to come back. Same thing. He played hurt.

[Xena Keda]

Yeah.

[Law Murray]

You know, that was cool.

[Xena Keda]

LeBron did not play. Ant did not play. That was kind of a bummer. But I agree with you. Being able to see two Bay Area kids in the sense of Steph is the Bay Area kid from a playing perspective, having come here, spent 16 years here, and then Dame Lillard being from Oakland, it was dope to see them be able to shine in their hometown. And the incorporation of both Oakland and the city in San Francisco, yeah, that was cool.

[Law Murray]

For me personally, I didn't get to cover the NBA like this until the 2000s. So that means that I never set foot into Oakland arena formally until Saturday. And that was a great moment for me. I took the Bart to get there.

[Xena Keda]

Look at you.

[Law Murray]

Hell, heck yeah.

[Xena Keda]

He's now he's a native.

[Law Murray]

Yeah, if you survive the Bart, you're good. I did not realize that the Coliseum was literally connected to the arena of it. Like you had a sports complex that reminds me of my city in Philadelphia. Like, that's what it looks like in South Lock.

[Xena Keda]

It's that locked in.

[Dave Dufour]

Okay.

[Law Murray]

So yeah, I got to ask you.

[Xena Keda]

To close it out. Any thoughts for like next year? How can you make this better? I think San Francisco did a great job of showing up. Brands showed up, the players showed up. They were. I saw them all across the city doing so many events. How can this get better in terms of like a basketball product next year?

[Law Murray]

I'll tell you what, it's going to be in an arena that has never had all star in Terms of Intuit Dome, a place that I live in now. And. Yeah, and, and, and I think there might be some incorporation of the forum. That's going to be cool if that's what wise.

[Xena Keda]

That's true. Yeah, that's cool.

[Law Murray]

Thank. The ease of access needs to be. It needs to be able to work for people. Yeah, I think LA Metro, if you see this, get your step up star stepping up right now playing this thing out. Agreed. And as far as the basketball goes, it is, it, it's la, it's a Clippers thing, it's la. And it needs to, it needs to celebrate the city and, and not just the Hollywood part of the city. You know, bring some culture, some legitimate culture in and don't make it a caricature. And, and NBC, if you watching this, be ready. People are going to want to see a different kind of coverage and this is an opportunity to make a great first impression in what might be the biggest event that NBC has before the playoffs.

[Xena Keda]

Agreed. Right. NBC is taking it over next year. It's going to be in LA this year. I mean next year. But as of now we are going to sign out from San Francisco. Shout out to me holding my camera up on my arm for longer than.

[Law Murray]

You thought you would.

[Xena Keda]

Way longer than I thought I could survive. So LA Murray with the athletic. Go read his stuff. Thanks for joining me.

[Law Murray]

Thank you. Xena, of course.

[Dave Dufour]

That's gonna do it for today's show, folks. Thank you guys for listening. For Xena Keda, for Laura Murray, for Esperahenny. I'm Dave Dufour and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us. As we head into the playoffs, it's safe to assume there will be a few calls made by the refs that will be hard to accept. But you know what isn't hard to accept? Discover. Believe it or not, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. You heard that right, 99%. So make a good call for your wallet and get Discover. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. Learn more at discover.com creditcard this podcast.

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[Law Murray]

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[Law Murray]

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