The NBA All-Star Game has been fading in relevance and entertainment value for a while. The last few seasons have been particularly atrocious. Adam Silver switched up the format, yet again, in hopes of reviving the product, but the players will need to do their part.
Kevin Durant, who's been in more than his fair share of lackluster All-Star Weekends, had no problem deflecting blame off himself and onto his competition for the upcoming events. The Houston Rockets star thought members of Team World should be under the microscope ahead of the big game.
"You should ask the Europeans and the world team if they're going to compete," Durant said. "I mean, because we look at Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic now, let's go back and look at what they do in the All-Star Game. Is that competition?"
Durant suggested that criticizing the oldheads without questioning those superstars was the wrong approach. The Rockets star said Doncic and Jokic play like 'they don't care about the game at all.' KD called them out for laying on the floor and shooting from halfcourt amid concerns of the oldheads playing hard.
NBA All-Star Game's failures are not on any individual(s) alone
Effort in the All-Star Game has certainly been less than desirable in recent years. It's not really on any specific player or group of players either. It's not solely on Durant or the oldheads. It's not on Doncic, Jokic, and the international stars.
The NBA's elite are just not given any real reason to care about the All-Star Game.
That is where the new format hopes to change that. Silver's switch to USA versus the World will hopefully add some much-needed pride on the line for the stars.
A similar idea worked over in the NHL. The All-Star Game was turned into the 4 Nations Face-Off. Canada, USA, Sweden, and Finland clashed for bragging rights about being the top hockey country in the world.
This is not quite that for the NBA. 'The world' is certainly a much more general concept than playing with a sense of nationalism on a team represented by the same flag. However, there was no real way of adapting that exact concept from the NHL. This is as close as you can really get.
Will it work? Sunday will show as much. If it doesn't, Silver and the NBA may be forced to go even bolder to get all of his stars active and interested, or else risk scrapping the event altogether.