June 6, 2025 • 7 mins
Wex and AC discuss if a new format for the NBA All-Star Game weekend will ignite a spark for fans to once again find interest in the sport after five years of mediocrity and Mac McClung's two Slam Dunk titles
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I believe it was Yannis at Rockets Trade Target maybe
that initially brought this up, at least in broad form
from a player standpoint, that he would like to see
the NBA take on the world when it comes to revamping,
tweaking or doing the latest change to the NBA All
(00:20):
Star Weekend format.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, the only change that's truly going to work is
players caring. And that's something clearly out of management's hands.
Do they care about All Star Weekend All Star Saturday Night?
Clearly they don't. And that's why mac McClung has won
the Slam Dunk Contest three times. He's not an NBA player,
This is an NBA event. He doesn't play in this league.
He doesn't play in this league. And he's winning your
(00:43):
signature event on your Saturday night activity. That is heatssane. Yeah,
And now again I don't frown on them saying well,
we might as well bring him back. They just don't
have any star power from the league itself to put
in this contest, and they've tried other events, and they
had controversy with that other event. With what the Spurs
got involved with. I don't even think it was necessarily
(01:03):
Chris Paul and Victor's fault, but clearly it did not
go as planned. And then the Sunday night activities, you know,
drafting separate teams and going to the round robin tournament. Clearly,
from a rating standpoint, which is all that they can
kind of hope for, there's nothing else going on, they
need to see numbers there and they didn't. They went
down dramatically last year, and so on the table and
(01:24):
off the table. The last twelve months or so, they've
had discussions and it's been brought up about going with
a new US versus Them format Rocky versus Drago format,
Ryder Cup style format. Okay, well, USA versus the World,
and at points in time the commissioner himself had said
this is an antiquated idea, and I think has clearly
(01:46):
since changed his tune. It is obvious that one player, Giannis,
who will be back at the All Star Game next
year representing the world. I'm not sure which team he'll
be playing for in the NBA the rest of the year,
but he would be representing the world. If we go
to the East or the NBA or America excuse me,
versus the world and we go back to our list.
(02:07):
It makes for some pretty entertaining groups of teams. Just
start right off at the top, the player ranked first, second, third,
and fourth. Well, they all hate us, clearly they would
be playing for Team World to be fair. Every Luca Jannis, Yes,
Shay who lives very close byre Is Canadian. I guess
(02:28):
I could make it simple and Nikolai jokicch that's one, two,
three and four on Team World. Then you would have
Steph Curry. He's going to get selected for the All
Star Game. I would imagine if he plays at a
reasonable level, he's no longer he guarantee to land one
of the voted in spots. Anthony Edwards, Tyre's Halliburton, Donovan Mitchell,
Jalen Brunson, Jason Tatum, each of the next six. They're
(02:51):
state siders. They're USA ors. Victor on the other side,
kd or Anthony Davis or Lebron On this side, I mean,
you're not gonna go super deep with super talents for
a Team World, but you can get enough.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
The obvious question is who's gonna win.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Well, the obvious question to me is what I opened
this with. Are they going to care enough for us
to care enough? Just because we've put them on teams
that are a little bit more representative of maybe bringing
some passion and emotion to the table.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Do you think this is an unfair question to ask?
I think I know your answer, But like, does the
lion's share of the blame about the NBA All Star
Weekend falling from grace not having the players you're talking
about care about it the way they should or we
think they should. You think the Lion's share of that
blame goes on Lebron's shoulders? Uh, just because of the
(03:47):
dunk context on Saturday? Right, No, Good's that's fair. That's
a fair answer because you.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Know how many times, how many times if things were
done to keep it off of his shoulders? How many
times should he have participated in the dunk contest?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Because I twice so more than zero, and once to
defend so, and then even if it if wins, he
wins it the second time, he can still.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Say so he should have participated twice. So what would
you say about this entire dialogue you're bringing up over
the last fifteen years when he wouldn't participate it at all?
Because those would have taken place early in his career
at least during the first in the game. Yeah, at
least during the first seven or eight years of his career.
If he would have participated, which most people still think
he should have done and can't believe he didn't do it,
he wouldn't still be participating ten years removed from his participation.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
The blame would stem from him creating a attitude towards
that event that prolonged after long after he was done participating.
Like Kobe, he never did it again.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Putting this out there to kind of absolve him for it,
but what it really it's not him. Every year, it's
him saying I did it for the league and for me.
Now you need to do it for you and the league.
You're the next guy. You're the next guy. You're one
of the five best player in the league. You're a
twenty five point per game score, you're well known. This
can help you. This helped me. He didn't need much help.
(05:06):
But the best players like Anthony Edwards just would destroy
in this. Yeah, or he could not participate at all.
He's only doing that because Lebron didn't before him. I'm kidding,
but you know, it's it's unfair on both sides. If
if Lebron did, Would more players of that caliber have
followed suit? Or because Lebron didn't, did more players follow
(05:27):
suit and not participate themselves the game itself. Like I'd
put ninety three point six percent of the blame on
the players. Just watch the games from you know, taking
last year's game out of it, the way that they've
played in the you know, five six years prior. They're
going out there in front of you know, fifteen thousand
fans on TV and I don't know what number of
fans on television, and they're playing low level pick up basketball.
(05:50):
They're not playing basketball. It's it's an exhibition game. You
want to stay healthy. There's some element of that. I
totally understand that part, but it became a forty foot
shooting contest three minutes into the game, and you know,
there's no nobody's running back. You're throwing full court passes
over and over and over again. You know, breakaway dunks
are fine, that they're so much better in a competitive
(06:13):
game than they are in this situation. The players, there's
some balance between giving everything you have to a mid
season exhibition game where you closer to the end of
the season exhibition game where you truly wish you were
you had eight days off and could get healthy, and
these are the handful of players that don't get that
time off. There's travel involved, there's obligations to it, and
(06:34):
there's the game itself, which is limited, especially when you're
not participating in anything else. You get into the site later,
you participate in media days, you participate in media open practice,
and then you play the game. Then you go back
to your team with still four to five days off Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
for sure, and some teams didn't play Aga until Friday.
It's not the end of the world to spend three
(06:54):
of those days on two flights to play in an
NBA exhibition game and still have enough juice left for
the rest of the season, even at an advanced age.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Unless you're Anthony Davis, in which you need three months
to get better so that you can make that finals
run in the bubble.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I mean, this is a good idea. I wish I
also felt it would make a big difference. It's definitely
a good idea. I'm happy they're trying this. I'm still
questioning whether it does much for interest in the game
from the players and interest in the game from the fans.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, to me, it just feels like it's something that's
going to be the next thing that they've tried, and
then it's going to lose, to lose its luster or
its effectiveness, or it's whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Might be fun to watch Luca go against Lebron, might
be fun to watch some of those things happen if
they're there. But we shall see. We'll see which players
are invited by the fans and the coaches and the
voters next year for this All Star Game extravaganza.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
The A team on Sports Talk seven ninety
I believe it was Yannis at Rockets Trade Target maybe
that initially brought this up, at least in broad form
from a player standpoint, that he would like to see
the NBA take on the world when it comes to revamping,
tweaking or doing the latest change to the NBA All
(00:20):
Star Weekend format.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, the only change that's truly going to work is
players caring. And that's something clearly out of management's hands.
Do they care about All Star Weekend All Star Saturday Night?
Clearly they don't. And that's why mac McClung has won
the Slam Dunk Contest three times. He's not an NBA player,
This is an NBA event. He doesn't play in this league.
He doesn't play in this league. And he's winning your
(00:43):
signature event on your Saturday night activity. That is heatssane. Yeah,
And now again I don't frown on them saying well,
we might as well bring him back. They just don't
have any star power from the league itself to put
in this contest, and they've tried other events, and they
had controversy with that other event. With what the Spurs
got involved with. I don't even think it was necessarily
(01:03):
Chris Paul and Victor's fault, but clearly it did not
go as planned. And then the Sunday night activities, you know,
drafting separate teams and going to the round robin tournament. Clearly,
from a rating standpoint, which is all that they can
kind of hope for, there's nothing else going on, they
need to see numbers there and they didn't. They went
down dramatically last year, and so on the table and
(01:24):
off the table. The last twelve months or so, they've
had discussions and it's been brought up about going with
a new US versus Them format Rocky versus Drago format,
Ryder Cup style format. Okay, well, USA versus the World,
and at points in time the commissioner himself had said
this is an antiquated idea, and I think has clearly
(01:46):
since changed his tune. It is obvious that one player, Giannis,
who will be back at the All Star Game next
year representing the world. I'm not sure which team he'll
be playing for in the NBA the rest of the year,
but he would be representing the world. If we go
to the East or the NBA or America excuse me,
versus the world and we go back to our list.
(02:07):
It makes for some pretty entertaining groups of teams. Just
start right off at the top, the player ranked first, second, third,
and fourth. Well, they all hate us, clearly they would
be playing for Team World to be fair. Every Luca Jannis, Yes,
Shay who lives very close byre Is Canadian. I guess
(02:28):
I could make it simple and Nikolai jokicch that's one, two,
three and four on Team World. Then you would have
Steph Curry. He's going to get selected for the All
Star Game. I would imagine if he plays at a
reasonable level, he's no longer he guarantee to land one
of the voted in spots. Anthony Edwards, Tyre's Halliburton, Donovan Mitchell,
Jalen Brunson, Jason Tatum, each of the next six. They're
(02:51):
state siders. They're USA ors. Victor on the other side,
kd or Anthony Davis or Lebron On this side, I mean,
you're not gonna go super deep with super talents for
a Team World, but you can get enough.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
The obvious question is who's gonna win.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Well, the obvious question to me is what I opened
this with. Are they going to care enough for us
to care enough? Just because we've put them on teams
that are a little bit more representative of maybe bringing
some passion and emotion to the table.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Do you think this is an unfair question to ask?
I think I know your answer, But like, does the
lion's share of the blame about the NBA All Star
Weekend falling from grace not having the players you're talking
about care about it the way they should or we
think they should. You think the Lion's share of that
blame goes on Lebron's shoulders? Uh, just because of the
(03:47):
dunk context on Saturday? Right, No, Good's that's fair. That's
a fair answer because you.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Know how many times, how many times if things were
done to keep it off of his shoulders? How many
times should he have participated in the dunk contest?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Because I twice so more than zero, and once to
defend so, and then even if it if wins, he
wins it the second time, he can still.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Say so he should have participated twice. So what would
you say about this entire dialogue you're bringing up over
the last fifteen years when he wouldn't participate it at all?
Because those would have taken place early in his career
at least during the first in the game. Yeah, at
least during the first seven or eight years of his career.
If he would have participated, which most people still think
he should have done and can't believe he didn't do it,
he wouldn't still be participating ten years removed from his participation.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
The blame would stem from him creating a attitude towards
that event that prolonged after long after he was done participating.
Like Kobe, he never did it again.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Putting this out there to kind of absolve him for it,
but what it really it's not him. Every year, it's
him saying I did it for the league and for me.
Now you need to do it for you and the league.
You're the next guy. You're the next guy. You're one
of the five best player in the league. You're a
twenty five point per game score, you're well known. This
can help you. This helped me. He didn't need much help.
(05:06):
But the best players like Anthony Edwards just would destroy
in this. Yeah, or he could not participate at all.
He's only doing that because Lebron didn't before him. I'm kidding,
but you know, it's it's unfair on both sides. If
if Lebron did, Would more players of that caliber have
followed suit? Or because Lebron didn't, did more players follow
(05:27):
suit and not participate themselves the game itself. Like I'd
put ninety three point six percent of the blame on
the players. Just watch the games from you know, taking
last year's game out of it, the way that they've
played in the you know, five six years prior. They're
going out there in front of you know, fifteen thousand
fans on TV and I don't know what number of
fans on television, and they're playing low level pick up basketball.
(05:50):
They're not playing basketball. It's it's an exhibition game. You
want to stay healthy. There's some element of that. I
totally understand that part, but it became a forty foot
shooting contest three minutes into the game, and you know,
there's no nobody's running back. You're throwing full court passes
over and over and over again. You know, breakaway dunks
are fine, that they're so much better in a competitive
(06:13):
game than they are in this situation. The players, there's
some balance between giving everything you have to a mid
season exhibition game where you closer to the end of
the season exhibition game where you truly wish you were
you had eight days off and could get healthy, and
these are the handful of players that don't get that
time off. There's travel involved, there's obligations to it, and
(06:34):
there's the game itself, which is limited, especially when you're
not participating in anything else. You get into the site later,
you participate in media days, you participate in media open practice,
and then you play the game. Then you go back
to your team with still four to five days off Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
for sure, and some teams didn't play Aga until Friday.
It's not the end of the world to spend three
(06:54):
of those days on two flights to play in an
NBA exhibition game and still have enough juice left for
the rest of the season, even at an advanced age.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Unless you're Anthony Davis, in which you need three months
to get better so that you can make that finals
run in the bubble.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
I mean, this is a good idea. I wish I
also felt it would make a big difference. It's definitely
a good idea. I'm happy they're trying this. I'm still
questioning whether it does much for interest in the game
from the players and interest in the game from the fans.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, to me, it just feels like it's something that's
going to be the next thing that they've tried, and
then it's going to lose, to lose its luster or
its effectiveness, or it's whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Might be fun to watch Luca go against Lebron, might
be fun to watch some of those things happen if
they're there. But we shall see. We'll see which players
are invited by the fans and the coaches and the
voters next year for this All Star Game extravaganza.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
The A team on Sports Talk seven ninety
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