This year’s NBA All-Star Game featured a new format yet drew the same criticism and fan apathy as previous editions. Meanwhile, the NHL created buzz and earned huge ratings with its 4 Nations games.
So it should come as no surprise that NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters Thursday the league is considering adopting a national team ASG format.
“Of course we took note of the great success the NHL had with their national team competition as their All-Star festivities,” Silver said (via Sports Business Journal). Maybe … there are some different national teams that can compete.”
A record-breaking 9.3 million viewers tuned in on ESPN for the 4 Nations championship game between USA and Canada. (By comparison, the NBA ASG drew 4.7 million viewers.)
There’s more driving the possible change than just a desire to emulate the NHL’s success. The NBA All-Star Game has a new home next year on NBC, which will carry the game for the first time since 2002.
Silver admitted a national competition also makes sense given the time frame of next year’s All-Star Game, which will take place during NBC’s coverage of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
“It happens to be that next year when our All-Star Game will be on NBC, we’re going to fall right in the middle of the winter Olympics — that they will be both the lead-in into the All-Star Game and the lead-out will be out on the West Coast in Los Angeles,” Silver said. “Which given the Olympic competition, sort of is creating new thoughts around how we can bring national competition to bear.”
A Team USA in the NBA ASG would be formidable, but just imagine the USA All-Stars facing a European team led by Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić. Whatever eventual format the league decides upon, it would offer an improvement over this year’s tournament format, which Silver called “a miss” that sent the NBA “back to the drawing board.”
“We sell competition, and I think that our players recognize they’re not putting their best foot forward when there’s a sense that not all in on playing an All-Star Game,” Silver said (via SBJ). “And I take responsibility, too, because we’re both a sport and an entertainment brand, and we recalibrated for this year’s All-Star Game in San Francisco around more of an entertainment product and don’t think it worked.
“The breaks were too long. I get it; it was an opportunity to celebrate TNT as they were going to have their last All-Star Game. It was well-intentioned, but I think the long stoppage in play, for example, in that final game didn’t work for anyone.”
It’s worth noting the NBA has floated the idea of a national All-Star Game format before, but it never panned out. Now, the success of 4 Nations seems to be inspiring Silver and the league to make it a reality.