President Barack Obama went on the newly renamed and rebooted Young Man and the Three podcast with host Tommy Alter and guest host Tyrese Haliburton this week. One of the many topics covered was the NBA All-Star game and how bad it has been recently.
Haliburton has been an All-Star the last two season and was the de facto host of the '23-'24 ASG in Indianapolis when the East beat the West 211-186.
Despite the fact that Haliburton had 32 points and made 10 of 14 three point attempts, Obama did not seem impressed and lit into the league's entire approach to the game.
"Y'all got to have a little more pride in that All-Star Game... It's an insult to the game." -Obama confronts Tyrese about the NBA All Star Game pic.twitter.com/ynmGQaJfBm
— TheYoungManAndTheThree (@OldManAndThree) October 23, 2024
"Y’all gotta have a little more pride in that All-Star Game,” Obama said. “It’s not as if you all don’t play pickup during the summers. You know how to play in a way that, alright, I’m not going to hurt anybody, I’m not going to take anybody out, but that All-Star Game, it’s broke, man.
"Like, people just like not running," Obama continued. "Everybody just trying all kinds of... it used to be when Kobe and Michael and Isaiah and those guys were playing, man. I mean they weren't playing the way they did regular season, but they wanted to win."
Haliburton responded by saying it was like a conversation with his father with Obama adding, "It insults the game." The Pacers guard tried to defend himself by pointing out he came off the bench in his first All-Star game so he was "just reading the room." Obama was not swayed.
“This is your business. This is your product. You don’t want people thinking you’re all out there just half-assed."
After a brief back-and-forth about taking it more seriously and the in-season tournament, Obama finished with, "Y’all need to do something because I ain’t watching that thing no more.”
He's not alone.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Barack Obama Takes Down NBA All-Star Game: 'It's an Insult to the Game'.
