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We’re all in on fixing the NBA All-Star Game

Bryan Harvey
4 min readFeb 21, 2023
Teammates in basketball, but enemies as All-Stars.

I now realize that title sounds like a gambling promo, which isn’t far off from what the All-Star game can feel like. The years aren’t many when one realizes perhaps collecting all the game’s biggest stars in one place for one game on one night isn’t the best embodiment of a game once played between peach baskets. That doesn’t mean it’s not fun in fits and spurts.

I thoroughly enjoyed the sequence where LeBron passed the ball off the backboard to himself and dunked, which was quickly echoed by Jayson Tatum passing the ball to himself off the backboard and dunking, which was quickly followed by the closest entry we have to date of Ja Morant in an NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

However, all this served as a reminder that none of these three names are likely to ever be in a Dunk Contest anytime soon, if ever, and that a Game of Horse between NBA All-Stars might be more thrilling than an All-Star Game simply because it would be more honest.

The All-Star Game is not for defense. I get that. I can handle that. The All-Star Game is not about intensity. That registers. This is NBA Spring Break. More Bachelor in Paradise than The Bachelorette.

But, at the same time, I don’t think Jemele Hill was wrong when she tweeted:

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Bryan Harvey
Bryan Harvey

Written by Bryan Harvey

@The_Step_Back / @havehadhavehad / @mcsweeneys / @dailydrunkmag / @Rejectionlit / @Classical / @TheFLReview / @ColdMtnReview / @Bluestemmag / @HarpoonReview

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