Adam Silver and the NBA front office have made several tweaks to the all-star game over the years. In 2024-25, the league has introduced a tournament-style event in place on the traditional East vs. West.
This decision has received a ton of criticism from media members around the league, including ESPN’s Michael Wilbon. He believes the NBA should follow the NHL and replace the all-star game with another event.
Is replacing the all-star game a smart move for the NBA?
Michael Wilbon calls for NBA to ‘follow suit’ with NHL in getting rid of All-Star Game https://t.co/E8D1KwOAjE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 14, 2025
This year, the NHL has parted ways with their traditional all-star game. Instead, they’ve kicked off an eight-day tournament called the 4 Nations Face-off. The event features four 23-player teams representing Team USA, Team Canada, Team Sweden, and Team Finland. Canada and Sweden had a thrilling game that went into OT on Wednesday. It’s drawn a lot of buzz for the NFL. More than they would have gotten for a traditional all-star game.
That’s why ESPN’s Michael Wilbon is questioning whether the NBA should follow the NHL and replace their all-star game. Wilbon discussed this on Thursday’s edition of Pardon the Interruption. He said the NBA needs to “follow suit very quickly” and replace the all-star game. Over the years, we’ve seen the NBA try and make changes to the all-star game to make it more competitive. The complaints last year were that no defense was being played and it was just dunks and three-pointers.
We’ve seen the NBA implement the in-season tournament (NBA Cup) and players seem to buy into that small tournament. Maybe an international friendly between countries could draw more ratings. Similar to what the NHL is doing with their 4 Nations Face-off. For basketball, the NBA could invite Team USA, Team Spain, Team France, and Team Serbia. That’s just an example and there could even be more teams. If the all-star game this weekend flops in ratings, expect Adam Silver to make a change.
