As Kevin Durant made sure to note Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić don’t care about the NBA All-Star Game either, ESPN’s David Dennis Jr. believes there was a deeper meaning to the comment.
The NBA All-Star Game has been retooled again this season, implementing a USA vs the World format as the league attempts to combat dwindling efforts by players during the event. Speaking to reporters Wednesday night, Durant downplayed concerns about whether the USA team will compete.
“You should ask the Europeans and the World team if they’re going to compete,” Durant said. “If you look at Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić now, let’s go back and look at what they do in the All-Star Game. Is that competition? So we haven’t questioned what they’ve been doing. But we’re going to question the old heads, and the Americans.”
“But these two dudes out there, Luka and Jokić, they don’t care about the game at all. These dudes be laying on the floor. They’re shooting from half court. But you’ve got to worry about the old heads playing hard? I can read between the lines, bro. It’s just an overall topic that everybody’s been talking about.”
Thursday morning on First Take, Stephen A. Smith, David Dennis Jr. and Vincent Goodwill reacted to Durant’s comments. And according to Dennis, Durant was highlighting the media’s inherent narratives about the NBA’s Black players when he talked about reading between the lines.
“If we’re gonna talk about what KD said, we’re gonna talk about what KD really said…they’re using the way that the All-Star game is to talk about these hundred-millionaire Black American players” – David Dennis Jr. pic.twitter.com/xqiBUDB0bK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 12, 2026
“If we’re gonna talk about what KD said, we’re gonna talk about what KD really said,” Dennis began. “Kevin Durant said it with jokes and everything, what he said is that he is tired of the way everybody uses – when they talk specifically about NBA players, Black American NBA players – they always use every excuse to call them lazy and say that they don’t deserve the money they get. This is a conversation that comes around all the time and they use it specifically around All-Star Games…Kevin Durant is simply pointing out, everybody treats this game the same.”
Stephen A. Smith pressed Dennis further, questioning if Durant is right to imply critics are using the All-Star Game to only call out Black American players.
“Absolutely,” Dennis said. “They’re using the way that the All-Star game is, to talk about these hundred-millionaire Black American players. Absolutely, Stephen A. You were here last year when they talked about the hockey tournament and using it to talk about NBA players.”
Dennis proceeded to claim the NBA All-Star Game has never been competitive, arguing the effort from today’s players is the same as it was in the ‘90s and earlier eras.
“You’re not gonna last on this segment long if you don’t answer the questions!” – Stephen A. Smith fired up as David Dennis Jr. argues today’s NBA All-Star Game is just as competitive as it was in the ‘90s pic.twitter.com/NMw0X63L18
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 12, 2026
“I’m watching the same game,” Dennis argued. “They are playing the same level of competitive basketball that they played in the ‘90s.”
Smith and ESPN NBA writer Vincent Goodwill were both quick to push back on Dennis, claiming the NBA’s All-Star product has absolutely deteriorated from what it was as recently as when Kobe Bryant was regularly competing in the event.
Two things can be true. There is undoubtedly an aspect of NBA detractors using the All-Star Game as an easy excuse to criticize Black athletes and falsely portray them as lazy. But it is also undeniable that the NBA All-Star Game deserves criticism because the quality of the event has drastically worsened over time. And blame for that decline falls on white and Black players. The dunk contest isn’t what it used to be ever since stars began skirting the event. And the All-Star game isn’t what it used to be with the best players refusing to play any semblance of defense.