Is the All Star Game Back??

Summary

The Athletic NBA Daily: Is the All-Star Game Back??

Date: February 16, 2026
Hosts: Zena Keita, Dave DuFour, Esfandiar Baraheni
Theme: A deep dive into the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend—new formats, renewed competition, and future implications for the league.

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Episode Overview

The hosts break down the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend, focusing on changes to the event's format, how it played out on the court, and what it means for the league's image and future. Dave DuFour reports from the event in LA, providing insider impressions on the energy, game quality, and logistics. The trio discuss whether the All-Star Game’s latest changes have succeeded in rekindling excitement, examine the state and future of “tanking” in the NBA, and highlight standout moments and players.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. All-Star Weekend Vibes and Format Changes

• Fan-Centric Atmosphere & Event Quality

  • Dave notes All-Star has always been “a fan event” with interactive activities, but perceptions have shifted:
    "The All-Star Game is never what people try to pretend like it used to be... [it] is a fan event very much geared toward bring your kids." (02:48 – Dave DuFour)
  • Today’s lower excitement is tied more to “expectations” and the overexposure of NBA games through streaming.

• Global Focus & Timing

  • Afternoon tipoff (2pm Pacific) designed to engage European audiences, with Dave suggesting the NBA is “trying to start an NBA league with stars potentially in Europe.”
    “We want some European fans to be able to stay awake... The world vs. US format is definitely playing into that.” (04:28 – Dave DuFour)

2. The New Game Format & Increased Competition

• Structural Tweaks Lead to a Competitive Edge

  • The weekend featured a fresh format: four quarters, world vs. USA, generational teams, and increased defensive intensity.
    • Rising Stars format’s success inspired the main event’s new structure (06:13).
    • Elimination of “target score” (Elam Ending) led to natural buzzer-beater moments and overtime drama.
  • Victor Wembanyama’s impact:
    “Wemby in an era where everyone likes to pretend like they are nonchalant... Wemby is earnest. He cares. He actually gives a damn.” (07:28 – Esfandiar)
    • His serious approach “raised the level” of the game, pushing others to compete (07:52–08:05).

• Generational and World vs. USA Dynamics

  • Young Team USA players facing “OGs” brought excitement, but fatigue became a factor for teams playing consecutive quarters (08:05+).
  • Pride and rivalry:
    "The pride in the old heads when it came to beating the world team...” (13:25 – Dave DuFour)
    • Kawhi Leonard’s dominance stood out (“best American basketball player in the world right now... what did he put up in that quarter? Felt like 50.” – 08:56)

• Anthony Edwards as Game MVP

  • Highlighted for leadership and swagger, especially crediting Wemby for “making everyone try” (09:24–09:37).
    • “He kept giving credit to Victor... it was cool for him to be the leader of that future Team USA.” (09:24 – Zena)

• Luka Doncic & Nikola Jokic Criticized

  • Lacked effort, which stood out given the raised level of play:
    “They were disinterested from the start... It was a little bit embarrassing.” (10:15 – Dave DuFour)

3. Debating Future Format Tweaks

• Consensus: New structure is a step forward, but fatigue and fairness issues remain.

  • Suggestions: Shorten quarters, add intermissions, blend in Rising Stars (12:00–14:23).
  • Monetary incentives cited as a possible motivator for increased competition.

• “We saw defense!”: Multiple moments of hard play, free throws, and defensive hustle—something often missing from recent All-Star Games (14:35–14:44).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Changing Expectations:
  “Why is the dunk contest not feel as special as it used to? Because we’ve seen all the dunks. The stars don’t even come and do them anymore.”
  (03:38 – Dave DuFour)

• Wembanyama’s Focus:
  “Did y' all see him taking a pause before his free throws in the All-Star Game?... He was so locked in.”
  (07:37 – Zena Keita)

• Kawhi Leonard’s Resurgence:
  “Kawhi Leonard... is the best American basketball player in the world right now. It’s him or Anthony Edwards, I don’t know. But no one is playing like Kawhi has been the last couple months.”
  (08:18 – Dave DuFour)

• Anthony Edwards’ Swagger:
  “It was just his swagger. Like, south was alive.”
  (09:24 – Zena Keita)

• Game Competitiveness:
  "We saw multiple free throws. We saw challenges. There were three bodies on the floor on one play. We saw defense."
  (14:35 – 14:44 – Hosts)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• All-Star Vibes, Atmosphere, and Format: 02:24–06:12
• Wemby’s Influence & Game Intensity: 06:12–08:05
• Kawhi’s Dominance & Game MVP Discussion: 08:05–09:37
• Luka & Jokic Criticism: 10:15–11:52
• Format Reflection & Suggestions: 12:00–14:23
• Moments of Real Competition: 14:35–14:52

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3-Point Contest, Dunk Contest, and Saturday Highlights

• The three-point contest is now the “main event” of All-Star Saturday—“the NBA’s home run derby.”
  (17:14–17:27)

  • Damian Lillard’s victory was the brightest moment, with major drama as Devin Booker missed clutch shots:
    “The thrill of watching D Book potentially being able to beat Dame and then miss three of his final shots. That was incredible theater.”
    (17:27 – Esfandiar)

• Dunk Contest: Energy lagged, with creative attempts to revive it (video intros, dunk clock), but hosts agree: current structure can’t match the excitement of past contests or viral professional dunkers; TV needs are taking precedence over the action. (20:05–20:38)

• Suggestion: Experiment with a one-on-one tournament; financial incentives like the $200k Unrivaled event in WNBA could motivate NBA stars (21:14–22:44).

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Adam Silver’s Press Conference & The Tanking Dilemma (24:18–28:44)

• Silver is “mad” about blatant tanking, calling it a real threat to regular season engagement and the league’s broader product.

• Hosts note: As long as the draft structure rewards losing, tanking will persist.

  • “If the NBA doesn’t do something, there’s going to be a serious lack of interest from fans because every single night... seven of [the games] don’t really matter. That’s a problem” (24:18 – Dave DuFour)
  • Esfandiar adds: Tanking should be temporary; teams shouldn’t dwell in the bottom (“tank and get out of there.” – 27:08)
  • The “middle” is considered death by some execs, but being competitive still has value.

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Looking Ahead: Second Half & All-Star Legacies (29:16–31:40)

• Kawhi Leonard is the storyline: Playing his best basketball in years; Clippers’ future is a question mark amid team changes and possible league discipline (29:16–30:33).
• International Rivalry: Hosts predict US vs. World will be hyped all the way to the 2028 LA Olympics, especially with Wemby's intensity and leadership on display (30:33–31:08).
• Broadcasting Chemistry: Shout-out to the NBC trio—Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Carmelo Anthony—for their entertaining and natural studio chemistry, giving “early Inside the NBA” vibes (31:12–31:40).

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Overall Conclusions

• The 2026 All-Star Weekend was a real success, largely due to format changes that encouraged real competition, especially in earlier rounds.
• New stars and fresh rivalries are emerging—Wembanyama’s presence forced others to “give a damn,” while Kawhi Leonard’s excellence was a headline story.
• Off-court, tanking remains a threat to NBA engagement; the league is at a crossroads regarding incentives and structural changes.

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Summary Table: Episode Flow

| Segment | Timestamp | Highlights | |----------------------------|--------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | All-Star Vibes & Globality | 02:24–06:12 | Format tweaks, fan event angle, global audience push | | Game Format Breakdown | 06:12–08:05 | Rising Stars inspiration, Wemby’s intensity impacts whole event | | Player Highlights | 08:05–09:37 | Kawhi’s dominance, Ant’s MVP performance, fatigue factors | | Effort & Critiques | 09:37–11:52 | Luka and Jokic's lack of engagement, “exceptions” to the competitive trend | | Format Suggestions | 12:00–14:23 | Possible tweaks, tournament integration, incentive talk | | Real Competition Moments | 14:35–14:52 | Defense and hustle uncommon for recent All-Star Games | | Saturday Events Recap | 16:38–20:38 | Three-point contest = the new main event, dunk contest format debate | | Tanking & League Concerns | 24:18–28:44 | Adam Silver’s frustration, need for reform, problems with current draft logic | | Second-Half Storylines | 29:16–31:40 | Kawhi’s resurgence, US vs. World Olympics build-up, broadcast shoutouts |

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Summary judgment:
The NBA All-Star Game feels reinvigorated by new energy, competitive structure, and unique personalities like Wemby, Ant, and Kawhi. The broadcast team and format shifts delivered fresh entertainment, but the looming issue of tanking threatens the league’s overall product and will need further reform. All eyes are now on the playoff push, team maneuvering, and the narrative build-up to an ever-more international NBA.

Transcript

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[Zena Cana]

Hello and welcome to the NBA Daily for Monday, February 16th. I'm Zena Cana, joined by Dave Defore and Esperhini. We're closing out NBA all star weekend. They did some things to chop it up. Switch it up. We're going to break it all down. Dave is on site. Let's get right to it. Dave. S. What's up guys?

[Dave Defore]

What up? What's up? Dancing to the music I've got in the background. Hoping that this music doesn't get us booted off of the Internet.

[Esperhini]

No, it'll be a five.

[Zena Cana]

Will you just.

[Esperhini]

Very musically inclined. I can hear the rhythm. It's all.

[Zena Cana]

I love it. I love it. That's the Toronto and you shout out.

[Dave Defore]

As we could have used you out here. I don't know anyone's names. One of the hosts of the weekend. Hey, they did a great job. Like the arena host. There's so much stuff happening. Nice. But man, one of them guy had no rhythm from the hips down. It just. Do kids not dance with their legs anymore? Like what is happening?

[Zena Cana]

No, there's several dances that are popularized that include legs, leg usage, but it.

[Esperhini]

Probably didn't come with TikTok instructions.

[Zena Cana]

That's.

[Dave Defore]

Oh, yeah, there you go.

[Zena Cana]

That's right, that's right. Okay. Well, Dave, I'm actually happy that you brought that up. Overall vibes of NBA All Star weekend, we gotta get into it because going into this weekend, it just felt like everyone was ragging on how bad the vibes were going into this weekend. No one's getting excited for the games. Everyone's expecting the competition to be down, et cetera. What were the overall vibes out in your city in la?

[Dave Defore]

You know, I think that it starts with this. The All Star Game is never what people try to pretend like it used to be. It's always sort of been like it is. And this new format, I will get to that in a second. But like, the vibe around the All Star is. It is a fan event very much geared toward bring your kids. You know, I mean, it's, it's. There's stuff outside. There's, you know, there's little mini hoops around the arena. There's a lot of stuff happening. The quality of the event itself, I just think the, the drop off in quality that we feel is more about just we've got more options. Netflix wasn't around in 1985. The NBA All Star Game had all the stars. Now, like, league pass, it's not a big deal. I see, you know, every team, every single night if I want. And I just think that a lot of this is about our expectations now.

[Esperhini]

You're cooking right now, Dave.

[Dave Defore]

Right now, the quality of the stuff that we saw here, I think it was on par with just about everything. But again, expectations. Why is the dunk contest not feel as special as it used to? Because we've seen all the dunks. The stars don't even come and do them anymore. So, like, to me, everything is about what do you expect out of the weekend? And so I look at this as a pretty, pretty big success. I mean, you know, I think there's some good stories coming out of it. The Damian Lillard stuff, which we'll talk about. I thought that the new format worked well. Overall, the vibe was good. But it's la. You ask people around, they didn't even know what was happening. Like there's stuff happening all the time.

[Zena Cana]

Well, you know what, the spread out.

[Esperhini]

Thing, I was going to say from a television perspective, the timing of it threw me off.

[Zena Cana]

2:00Pm Pacific is a different. That's a switch up.

[Dave Defore]

Yeah. People have been kicking around this idea that it's because of the Olympics. The Olympics are coming. Tape delay after this. This is not. They're not going to be live. This is for Europe, guys. This is. We are trying to start an NBA league with stars potentially in Europe. Let's show you what it looks like. Now, I personally would not have chosen All Star weekend to highlight that, but I do believe that the 2pm Pacific start has just, hey, we want some European fans to be able to stay awake and watch this stuff. I mean, the world versus US format, it definitely is playing into that. The entire thing was they, they wanted to create a social media event just as much as an event on the court because, you know, it's an attention business. So I think that the start it is a little bit like disjointing. Especially for us. It's All Star Saturday night and it was in the afternoon.

[Esperhini]

Yeah, All Star Saturday evening, early afternoon.

[Zena Cana]

I mean it was something that I had a friend that lives in Spain texting me saying, oh, I'm watching. Like I was at the Doug contest. I posted something on my story and they were up watching it. I think that's exactly what Adam Silver wants in being able to globalize the game. Sure. From that perspective, it's. It's awesome. Let's go ahead and talk about the positives, particularly coming out of Sunday night. Sunday afternoon it was the switch up was good. Overall, the competition was there. Now there were four quarters being played. The first three cut throat. And we can thank Victor Wembanyama for setting the table now. Dave. Excuse me. S. Dave just laid out. It all is about what you expected going into this weekend. What did you expect out of this format? And then what'd you actually see?

[Dave Defore]

You know what?

[Esperhini]

So they changed the format for the Rising Stars a couple of years ago and they saw an increase in competition. They saw guys going back and forth a little bit more. I think the fact that it's one single quarter and guys have to compete for 12 minutes straight adds a level of intensity. It's basically like you get four separate fourth quarters which by the way, if it's close enough. Most All Star games in the past in the fourth quarter have been all been competitive. So how do you replicate that aspect consistently? It's dividing them into three different teams. And so doing it without the target score.

[Dave Defore]

Also doing it without the target score gave us some moments. Shout out to Moda Keel, who has always been against the Elam ending and it gave us moments. We got that de' Aaron Fox buzzer beater. We got a game that went into ot, which who was. I didn't even know that they had overtime rules because I was confused. Yeah, this. You know, you mentioned the first three games being super competitive and Victor Weminyama. I believe fully that Victor Wimanyama kind of annoyed these guys and basically was like.

[Zena Cana]

They were like, you are switching. Exactly. Floor was here. We're all on the same page. We're about to say.

[Esperhini]

Can I say something about this?

[Zena Cana]

Raised it. He raised it.

[Esperhini]

Wemby. In an era where everyone likes to pretend like they are nonchalant. Right.

[Dave Defore]

He's earnest.

[Esperhini]

Wemby is earnest. He cares. He actually gives a damn.

[Zena Cana]

Did y' all see him taking. Did y' all see him taking a pause before his free throws in the All Star Game? The same level of, like, focus that you see him when he's tied up in a Spurs jersey. He was so locked in. Okay, let's keep talking about it.

[Dave Defore]

He was very serious.

[Zena Cana]

Yeah, let's talk about this. Because the. It did drop off.

[Dave Defore]

Sure.

[Zena Cana]

And where we saw that drop off was when you realized that the Stripes team was about to play three quarters in a row.

[Dave Defore]

Yeah.

[Zena Cana]

And these were the OGs. And it was cool for a second because you saw the future of Team USA beating up on the legends of Team usa. But then it got a little bit ugly and it got a little boring.

[Dave Defore]

So, again, the fatigue was definitely a factor there at the end. But I do want to just point out the world versus US format was a big motivator here. And I fully believe that the old heads wanted to beat the world team specifically. And once that was done, I just think they were out of gas. Kawhi Leonard, by the way, just an aside. Is the best American basketball player in the world right now. It's him or Anthony Edwards, I don't know. But no one is playing like Kawhi has been the last couple months. And we saw. I mean, what did he put up in that quarter?

[Zena Cana]

In that quarter. And there was.

[Dave Defore]

It felt like 50.

[Zena Cana]

Yeah, right. And it was interesting because all I could think about is, remember, Kawhi didn't play in the Olympics. And it was kind of like, do you. Maybe there's a point to prove. Like, maybe there's a just don't forget about me moment that we had. And we thought up until that quarter, I mean, through that quarter, that he probably was going to get mvp. Ends up being Anthony Edwards. S. What do you love about Ants game? I know what I loved about the whole thing. It was just his swagger. Like, south was alive.

[Esperhini]

Okay, 100%.

[Zena Cana]

He kept giving credit to Victor.

[Dave Defore]

I turned his accent up a notch, by the way. I'm just going to throw that out there. I mean, what, he was talking like he's gone home for Thanksgiving. He wasn't going to start talking all fast. Yeah, no, it was very funny.

[Esperhini]

No, look, you're right. And yes, he had a lot of swag to him. And I love that he was crediting basically every single opportunity he had a chance to. He was like, yeah, it's because Wemby started trying, right? So we all started trying. And it was cool for him to be the leader of that future Team USA that you're talking about, Xena, because it's clear he's the next face of this thing. And so, yeah, him taking the storms there is great. I also thought it was cool because post game he kind of called out Luka Doncic and Nicola Jokic. He said, hey, I'm going to be real with you guys. Everybody was trying out there except Jokic. And those are the two guys who got benched in the final one, a.

[Dave Defore]

Full game, you know. But the thing is, they were disinterested from the start. And look, KD talked about this. Kevin Durant talked about this a couple days ago, and he's dead right. He is dead right about it. Neither one of those guys really wanted to participate. Luka's got an injury and maybe that's part of it, but like, his track record suggests that that's a small part of it. And Jokic, beyond just looking like he was wearing a jersey that was a size too small, he just didn't want to be out there. I mean, he did make that one athletic play on the sideline where I'm. I just, you know, you remember, this guy is actually kind of a freak athlete because he's 7ft 2, but you know, they were non factors and frankly, he's a little bit embarrassing. There's not that many spots for the world team and there's a lot of international players and they could have maybe just bowed out. Now, granted, the NBA is not going to let them bow out. You need your.

[Esperhini]

No SGA or Giannis either, right?

[Dave Defore]

Yeah. And so you need those guys to play. And it is, it is unfortunate and I hope that they get hammered for this because they were the, the exception to everyone else that was out there. I mean, that last game aside, when the game, you know, they knew they didn't, didn't have it. That game was. They were 3 for 20 at one point. The Stripes team The old guys, they ran out of legs. We're gonna throw that one out the window. But there was just no excuse. I mean, come on, it's. It's 1-5-minute stretch of basketball in front of. You know what wound up being a pretty good crowd that was into the game. And especially when Kawhi Leonard was cooking. I mean, this is, this was a Clippers crowd. And so it's a little. It's disappointing because I love those guys. I love to watch them play. It would have been cool if they were participating like everybody else.

[Zena Cana]

Yeah, things are. Oh, go ahead.

[Esperhini]

I was just going to ask, like, do we all agree that this is the format we want to see moving forward?

[Dave Defore]

I think a variation.

[Zena Cana]

Agreed. I think there's got to be something adjusted for the fact that one team could end up playing three games in a row and end up gassed at this point. I don't know how much you need the stats to match up in terms of we need a full game to be played, 48 minutes. And that's why. Exactly. I was thinking, can we shorten the quarters? Can there be an intermission of some sort to ensure that no one's playing for that long?

[Esperhini]

It felt like they had a halftime show after every game though.

[Dave Defore]

You know, honestly, that, that was, you know, I do want to swing this back to last year because last year was a pretty competitive game until the television broadcast derailed everything.

[Zena Cana]

Oh, yeah.

[Dave Defore]

And this year it was a much different experience. I mean, I, you know, I was in the arena instead of at home like last year, but this flowed much better. And I actually was looking when it was time to take that break before the last game, I actually felt as if the show, you know, the entire event was ready for it because of how intense that third game had been. I thought it was a good time for a cooling off. And then they probably just need more time. But I do think that the tournament format kind of works. I'm not sure if it should be world versus us every year. I think a theme is good. I really like the generational divide.

[Esperhini]

Yeah, I like that a lot too.

[Zena Cana]

You know, you can see the young guys beating up on their uncles and enjoying it. It was fun. It was fun.

[Dave Defore]

And then the pride in the old heads when it came to beating the world team. Yeah, look, and when Kawhi was cooking, all those guys got out of his way. They're just like, take it, go. And I, I just think that there's a certain amount of, you know, you get to see the difference in style from guys that have been in the league a decade plus and guys who've been in the league a couple years. I think maybe even I wouldn't be against adding, like, the Rising Stars to this. Like maybe the team that wins the Rising Stars tournament.

[Zena Cana]

That's kind of what happened last year, right? That, that team, whoever won the Rising Stars tournament had the opportunity to go up. They got.

[Dave Defore]

But add them to this format, right? Like, add them to this format and then you, you know, I mean, again, and, and we've talked about. Again, we have talked about the All Star Game forever. And at the end of the day, if they add some money to the pot for this game, you will get even more competition than we saw. But I don't think we need anymore. The All Star Game need to be a success. This was great time.

[Zena Cana]

It was competitive. It was fun. It. The vibe was, pick up with your friends, let's go beat the guys in front of us. And that was. That was good. You saw guys trying hard. You saw guys gassed, which is something to be said.

[Esperhini]

We saw multiple free throws. We saw.

[Zena Cana]

We saw challenges.

[Dave Defore]

There were three bodies on the floor on one play.

[Zena Cana]

Yeah, yeah, we saw.

[Dave Defore]

We saw defense.

[Zena Cana]

Yeah.

[Dave Defore]

I mean, Kevin Durant was trying to lock up Booker.

[Zena Cana]

Yeah, we saw back picks happen.

[Dave Defore]

They played basketball today. And you know what?

[Zena Cana]

It was fun.

[Dave Defore]

Shout out to. To these guys. They played basketball at the All Star Game.

[Zena Cana]

We got to give a lot of love for that. We got to give love for that. But wait, before we give too much. Prime. One day delivery's fast. How fast we talking? We're talking tissues and hot tea fast. Feel better meds fast. Relieving Shador fast. So you can. So you can actually breathe out of both nostrils fast. Like I just ordered and it's already here. Fast, fast. One day delivery to feel better sooner. It's on Prime.

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[Zena Cana]

I was working a little bit on Saturday so I got to the arena late just for the adult contest. Yeah, I didn't quite see everything that happened before, but I saw tons of the highlights of the Dame Lillard return game. It wasn't a game, it was a competition. The three point competition. And it felt like that was the same. The highlight of Saturday. Now Dave, you were there in person. S. You were there to watch it from your TV screen. Yeah. So I want to hear what both perspectives were like. I'll start with you. Like what was it like in terms of how they set it up? It felt like it was a big event for the three point competition.

[Esperhini]

Well, it was, it was kind of weird to me that they started with the three point contest. Contest because I feel like that is now the main event.

[Zena Cana]

Right.

[Dave Defore]

It's the home run Derby.

[Zena Cana]

That's what I thought. I was like thinking I was going to be able to catch it and I was sad that it was first. I agree.

[Esperhini]

I totally agree. So. So for me it was, it was kind of off putting to be like, oh, it's five o' clock and I gotta watch the three point shootout. This is sort of weird but at the same time Damian Lillard and by the way, Devin Booker and those guys, they all delivered in such a major way the thrill of watching D Book potentially being able to beat Dame and then miss three of his final shots. That was incredible theater.

[Zena Cana]

Who choked more? Ilya Malinin and ice skating or quad?

[Dave Defore]

God, it's gotta be the quad guys beaten by Damian Lillard. There's no shame in that at all. It was, it was awesome.

[Esperhini]

On one Achilles though.

[Dave Defore]

That's. Oh well, it's. Come on, it's repaired. I was sitting with, with our colleague and, and Zena's. Zena's co host from no off season, Sabrina Merchants. He was sitting next to me during that and I mean I am just outright openly rooting for Damian Lillard to win the three point contest. And he would, he got, he was on fire. It was amazing. Con caneple. You know, the lights were too bright. Once he got to the finals. I mean, imagine you're a rookie and you find out a couple days before the three point contest that Damian Lillard is basically being like legendary. Like legendary player put into the three point contest. You make it out. I mean, he had a Khan goes first, he has that great run and then you've got to go up against Damian lowered in the final. I don't know, man. That was a lot of pressure, but it was fun. And I'm with you guys. It should have been last. Again, the three point contest is the. The home run derby for the NBA. The dunk contest, it just doesn't have the juice. And again, it's for all the reasons that we know. There are professional dunkers who are 5 foot 5 on the Internet doing stuff you could never see a seven foot guy do. So like, it's just dunking is a little bit done. But the three point contest, I like the logo shot that you added the last couple years. You know, something that makes it more like. It looks more like the game that you see now. Right? Like the logo. Three is a part of the game. So I think that that's great. But overall, look, the vibe on Saturday was much less fun than this game. Three point contest was great. And then it was just crickets for a lot of it. And no, Ludacris did a concert. It was loud, people had fun. But other than that, it was three point contest.

[Esperhini]

It wasn't loud on tv. I could barely hear him on the mic. It was. Put that out there.

[Zena Cana]

Did you like the. Did you like the little videos that they did before the dunkers came out?

[Esperhini]

No, I did not.

[Zena Cana]

All right. I was. I'm trying. You know what, I'll say this.

[Esperhini]

I'll say this. I love the creativeness. Like, let's just try stuff. As a person who likes trying. Yeah, I like it. It's all cool. But I thought it kind of delayed some of the action and you want to see these guys keep going. Also, you don't need a dunk clock, in my opinion. Let the guy finish what he's trying to do, you know?

[Dave Defore]

Yeah, they have it. You know, listen, it's a TV show. I understand that you've got to have things on a schedule, but it does seem like it added a little bit of unnecessary pressure for no good reason.

[Zena Cana]

The car final dunk, I think got derailed because of time. And it could have been really cool. Sure.

[Dave Defore]

I'm of the opinion though that these guys should just get one attempt. I think if you miss we move on. Like, it just takes too long. Maybe it's one attempt at a time and maybe it's just, you get three turns or something. Like, can I.

[Esperhini]

Can I throw out a different. And this is maybe derailing us a little bit.

[Dave Defore]

We're talking about the dunk contest. It's been derailed.

[Esperhini]

We just saw the unrivaled one on one competition. It was incredible, right?

[Dave Defore]

It was head to head and it.

[Esperhini]

Was head to head.

[Zena Cana]

It was.

[Esperhini]

How much money do you think these guys would need to be able to do something like that? Like, well, just the number one.

[Zena Cana]

Let's put it in perspective. Let's put in perspective. Chelsea Gray made $196,000 as her salary in the WNBA. She just won 200k Sprite one on one tournament in unrivaled. Shout out to Sprite for that 200k. So that obviously incentivizes you in a different level than what you typically see. You're not going to get someone to, you know, do a ton for 100k, which is about what you're supposed to win. You know, you get first place for the dunk contest. I. My thing is, I don't know what the number is, the dollar amount is. But I will give credit to Keyshawn Johnson because that guy understood it. Even when he was being interviewed, he said, we have to put on a show for the fans. He got it and he came out with E40, this kid from the Bay. And mind you, I did a game, I covered a game this summer during the California Classic where all I was saying throughout the broadcast was like, I like this kid. I just, I like the way he plays. I like the way he moves. I like he's got great vibes and he seems grateful and that's what we're missing. Also from the All Star environment is gratitude for this opportunity. Right? Like, not too cool for the moment. This is so special that you get to be in these, this position to be an All Star or to compete for these, like, really big moments. Not necessarily big titles, but just big moments. And I think Keyshawn Johnson was like the epitome of I am having a great time. I cannot believe I'm here. This is awesome. Yay.

[Dave Defore]

Respects the fans, you know, like the fans. There were people that paid money. I mean, not a lot of people that paid money because corporate sponsorships, you know, the NBA is. That's how it operates. There's a lot of tickets that are handed out for free, especially stuff like this. But the people that are here, they put On a show for them. I mean, again, Keyshot Johnson, he won over the crowd too, because nobody, frankly nobody knew who he was.

[Esperhini]

Yeah, but now everybody.

[Dave Defore]

That's right. But no one knew who he was. And he made a name for himself not just because he can dunk. He did it because he like again, guy seems like he's got good vibes.

[Esperhini]

What I was talking about was a one on one tournament. Gotta have it if you could. What like $10 million could you, could you do? Is that enough?

[Dave Defore]

A NBA one on one tournament would garner so much sponsorship money, State Farm would give them $20 million for this thing. Jalen Brown, we all would love to see.

[Zena Cana]

He's in, he's called out some folks. Even so I think there's opportunity there. That is something that is on a lot of people's minds is the one on one. Now the funny thing is, is that this was a question throughout the weekend about what can be done to fix the All Star tournament. There's also the question of what can be done now that All Star is done. So to fix tanking, these were the types of questions that were directed at Adam Silver over the course of the weekend. And Dave S, y' all gonna have to break it down for me because I again just got clips of this. What was Adam Silver's response to basically talking about his league being under fire for potential tanking?

[Dave Defore]

So I was in the room for the press conference and I actually felt like he was mad about the way that the tanking has gotten. I mean it's blatant and we've, we've talked about this and you know, till we, we can beat this, this point to death. But it has gotten bad. And it does seem like we're at this point where if the NBA doesn't do something, there's going to be a serious lack of interest from fans because every single night, you know, we, we sometimes have 14 games in a night and seven of them don't really matter. That's a problem for your inventory. If you're the NBA, all of a sudden your product's worth less. And so he did seem pretty upset. It seems like in March they're going to start approaching draft reform and what to do about tanking. And no one has a perfect solution there. Problem that we've got is that analytics have just pointed out in an undeniable way that you cannot, you cannot ignore that the most successful way to get a good team and to get good players on your team is through tanking and the draft process. So until that changes, until you have a system that is somehow more equitable in the way it distributes players, you just don't have a solution for this. And so I thought Adam Silver's point was, yeah, we're upset, we're going to take a look at it. They haven't addressed this stuff in a while, but they've, you know, since they instituted the lottery, I think they've made like five or six changes to the structure of the lottery, including flatten the odds. So it isn't like, it isn't something they've been trying. But the problem is the teams are now just, they're smart enough to be dedicated to this thing and it just, it creates a situation we're in.

[Esperhini]

I think from, from Adam Silver's comments, I'm curious to see because it seems like they are assessing all options when it comes to how to fix this competitively. And I think it's natural because your regular season is under attack, right? The integrity of the regular season is under attack at this point. You have to act in a strong way, but you also have to be careful not to take away from bad teams abilities to stop being bad.

[Zena Cana]

Right.

[Esperhini]

And I think there is a very, very important ethical tanking matters. And also I think the duration of your tank is important. You think of the Detroit Pistons, right? The reason they are back and they are the number one seed in the Eastern Conference is because Cade Cunningham, the number one overall pick, is who he is. But they had multiple kicks at the can where they had the worst record in the league, but they fell to fifth and drafted, you know, a Sar Thompson, which is great, by the way, but like not a cornerstone franchise changing type of player like Cade. You have to give teams a single opportunity to make the most out of their one tank or two tanks and get out of there.

[Zena Cana]

Right.

[Esperhini]

Otherwise I think, I think it prolongs the tanking position for a lot of these teams. Right. You see the Wizards doing the same thing.

[Zena Cana]

Anyways, I don't know why this is so funny to me the way that you just laid that out. But yes, like tank and get out of there. Yeah, don't, don't stick too long into the tank because yeah, it's not a permanent residence. Exactly. And it does ruin the product. And people start to notice this looks like it's on purpose.

[Dave Defore]

We don't like the other side of this coin though is the way that if you're in the middle and Adam Silver mentioned this, being in the middle is death in the NBA, like being stuck in Mediocrity, which I don't necessarily agree with, but I can at least wrap my head around that concept. Right. I think that there's value to being a fine basketball team that's fun to watch, that puts on a good. You know, you're competitive, you make the playoffs, you make the play in every year. I think that that's fine, and I think that for some teams, that's fine. But in today's day and age, part of the way you keep your job is by having a strategy that gets you to championship level and that sort of contention. So if you're a gm, you know, like, if you're the Memphis Grizzlies, you didn't have a team that was going to make the Finals as it was constructed. This teardown is the smart move. Like, it makes a lot of sense. It doesn't mean we have to like it, and I don't think the league likes it. So, you know, I think at this point, when a third of the teams are actively trying to lose games to the point where the Utah Jazz aren't even playing their guys, they're playing them up to the fourth quarter, that is just a little too in your face. It felt like for the NBA, I'm glad that they're stepping up, because frankly, we watch games every night. I would love it if some of these games mattered.

[Esperhini]

Yeah.

[Zena Cana]

Okay, so we're now closed on All Star Weekend. Second half of the season is coming up. Anything else from this weekend that gave you an indication about what's up ahead? Any parties hang out? Like, what were you seeing on the sites that you were just like, ooh, this could be something we've seen, you know, some. Some good juju come out of this event, or we saw some people, like, hanging out a little bit. Was Giannis hanging out with a particular team a little bit more than others? Like, what did you see on the ground there?

[Dave Defore]

I didn't see any of that, but I did see, like, look, I. Kawhi Leonard, to me, is the biggest story coming out of the All Star weekend because he's playing like one of the best players in the world again, and he's been doing it all year. This is as healthy as we've seen him in a couple of years now. And the Clippers are a team that aren't going anywhere. And I am. I'm just confused by what they did at the deadline. I understand, you know, James Harden wants to get out, and it makes it much easier to make the decision on Zubot, but it. It stands out to me that this guy is hooping like this. And they just decided in a year where they don't even have their draft pick to just say, all right, no, we're just not going to compete. I just don't know. So I'm watching Kawhi. I want to see what happens with the Clippers and aspiration. Adam Silver also said the other day that he is limited, you know, to buy the CBA and the bylaws in the punishment that he can deal out. So when we get the results of the investigation or whatever, there is a limit to, to the suspension or fines or even up to maybe, you know, Kawhi Leonard's contract being voided. So I'm curious to see what happens here over the course of the next few months. We're all going to be watching Pablo Torre finds out, I think for the next few weeks.

[Esperhini]

Okay, I'll. I'll give you a serious one, and I'll give you an unserious one. The serious one is that I think the whole USA versus World thing will just continuously be amped up until the 2028 Olympics, which are also happening right behind me. Right behind you. So I, I think that will have. There's a narrative that's already building the scene.

[Zena Cana]

Yes.

[Esperhini]

I think it's very, very cool to see how much guys are going at Wemby and how much Wemby cares about all this. And it's. It's gonna add a cool narrative.

[Dave Defore]

The unseen national team winning a gold medal here is gonna hurt.

[Esperhini]

Would be incredible.

[Dave Defore]

It's gonna hurt.

[Esperhini]

And Xena would love that.

[Zena Cana]

No, I would be against it.

[Esperhini]

The unserious one is shout out to the NBC broadcast and to the trio of Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Carmelo Anthony, because I think those three have developed this awesome connection that reminds me of like early days inside the NBA with Shaq, Chuck and Kenny. And it just. It has that camaraderie, it has that vibe to it, but there's this added layer of them actually all being friends that I really appreciate. So, yeah, that's the unserious one.

[Zena Cana]

I love it. Good roots were put down in this All Star weekend for the future. That is not a play on the aspiration case. That was just what I said. But, Dave, we appreciate you being on the ground giving us the inside scoop from that Esber Henny, as always, appreciate you guys. I'm Xena K. That's going to do it for us at the NBA Daily. Also, shout out to whoever put us on at the Iverson Mansion house party. We were apparently on TVs everywhere. Yeah, people are doing their job and following us and listening to us because we got you covered when it comes to NBA coverage. So make sure you tune in tomorrow because we'll have more shows as we head into the second half of the season. All right, y' all have a great rest of your day. Are you really buying a car online on Autotrader right now? Really? At a playground?

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[Zena Cana]

Wow, your search can really get that specific.

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[Zena Cana]

I think Kate is walking up the slack. Kyle. Again? Really?

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