Gary Payton addressed the state of the NBA All-Star game during his appearance on the Knuckleheads podcast. He noted that the current group of All-Stars doesn’t feel motivated to play hard at the event because they make a lot of guaranteed money and don’t feel the need to step up and deliver at a high level because they have no incentive.
“I’m just gonna tell you flat, it’s about the money, because all these guys make too much money. They make too much money…”
He added that back in his time, the All-Stars from the Western Conference and Eastern Conference hated each other and wanted to defeat the opposite side to prove that they were the better conference. However, in today’s league, it appears as though most of the All-Stars are friends with each other, and Payton took a dig at LeBron James‘ ‘Banana Boat Club’ with Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul.
“But the main purpose of this right now is, we all weren’t friends, we didn’t all go out and Banana Boat’ together and do that stuff. We hated each other. The West hated the East, we used to get out at each other, we weren’t friends. We were at each other during the All-Star game, because the simple of what? We wanted to be the best. We wanted the West to be the best because they were all talking about Jordan and them.”
Payton might not like the way the modern All-Stars perceive the event. But going after LeBron James and his friends seemed like an unnecessary dig that the Super Sonics legend didn’t really need to take. Especially considering that James, Wade, Anthony, and Paul have played in some of the most exciting NBA All-Star games in history.
NBA All-Star Game Needs Revamp
Gary Payton might have taken an unnecessary shot at LeBron James and the Banana Boat Crew, but he does have a point about how the NBA All-Star Game has played out in the last few years. This year, Adam Silver stressed to the players the importance of playing hard and competitive basketball before the event, but it didn’t resonate with the stars of the league.
Once again, the All-Star game was panned, with a lot of fans being critical of the new format introduced by the NBA. The tournament very much devalued the prestige of becoming an All-Star, as it featured the NBA’s rising stars team to play against the three selected teams.
An anonymous NBA GM accused Silver of being obsessed with tournaments and seeing it as the only solution for the league’s problems. Given that the commissioner is considering a $1 million one-on-one tournament next season, it’s hard to disagree with what he has to say.
The NBA’s All-Star problem has gone on for too long. And Adam Silver will have to try some new strategies, as his idea of a tournament failed miserably.
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