This year on Valentine’s Day, most people spent time with their love, while other people (NBA Fans) spent time with their love, specifically, NBA All-Star Weekend. NBA All-Star Weekend is always a sight to see for not just NBA fans, but any pop culture fans as well. You can expect to see celebrities at any of the events, especially the Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. The whole weekend of NBA All-Star events brought out many A-List celebrities, resulting in many viewers. The heart of the weekend is the NBA All-Star Game itself, however, the new format of this game has brought some attention to fans: negative attention.
Starting off the weekend, the first main event took us to Oakland Arena at 7 PM., where the Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game started the weekend off on the right foot. Both basketball and pop culture fans live to see the celebrities who play in the all-star game every year. Some of the top celebrities in this year’s game were comedian and creator, Druski, multi-grammy-nominated singers, Noah Kahan and Shaboozey, and content creator and streamer, Kai Cenat played in this game (NBA.com). However, none of them got the MVP award for the game. American actor and model, Rome Flynn, was awarded the Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game MVP. Later in the evening, at Chase Center, the Castrol Rising Stars tournament took place. Team Chris faced off against Team Tim in game one, while Team Mitch went up against Team G League in game two. The championship game featured Team Chris being crowned victorious over Team G League, led by Spurs guard, Stephon Castle, who was also the Rising Stars MVP, and Lakers guard Dalton Knecht (NBA.com).
Some may say, “Saturdays are for the boys”, while others might say, “Saturdays are for the State Farm All-Star Skills Challenges.” Starting Saturday night was the KIA (automobile) Skills Challenge, where San Antonio Spurs duo, Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama, were disqualified for bending the rules. Winning this challenge was the Cleveland Cavaliers duo, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, which marks the first non-home team to win the skills challenge. Up next was the Starry 3-Point Contest, where ESPN experts proposed everyone would be on “Dame-Time” Saturday Night, where they picked Damian Lillard to win the challenge (ESPN.com). However, Tyler Herro broke all the experts’ opinions and took home the trophy (NBA.com). To end the night, the AT&T Dunk Contest brought life to those upset by the previous event outcomes. ESPN experts selected G-League star for the Osceola Magic and two-time dunk contest champion, Mac McClung, to win this contest. As expected, McClung won his third Dunk Contest (Three-Peat), where he jumped over a KIA K5 to earn a 50-point dunk (ESPN.com).
To cap off the weekend, the 74th NBA All-Star Game took place under a new format. Instead of people enjoying an exciting, high-scoring competition, people got to watch a new concept for the All-Star Game: a tournament. Instead of two large teams of all the superstars competing, there were four teams with eight players each (ESPN.com). There were three games across three teams, and the first team to score forty points won. The teams were Kenny’s [Smith] Young Stars, Chuck’s [Charles Barkley] Global Stars, and Shaq’s [Shaquille O’Neal] OGs (ESPN.com). Shaq’s OGs won the tournament, with Stephen Curry winning the All-Star Game MVP (NBA.com).
Ultimately, Valentine’s weekend was surely the equivalent of a match made in heaven, whether they choose to prioritize basketball or their significant other over the weekend. Although this year’s All-Star game did not live up to the standards it normally does, the new format brought mixed feelings to basketball lovers’ hearts. As unfortunate as the new format could have been to some NBA fans, I believe it is pretty safe to say that having mixed feelings over an All-Star game is not as unfortunate as having mixed feelings about your significant other. However, the All-Star Weekend was still a success to many, and it is always guaranteed to be a grand event for the NBA.
