Spinnable Sports Your Sports, Our Spin
The NBA All-Star game is becoming more and more irrelevant each year. According to Sports Media Watch, the ratings and viewership significantly declined, dropping 29% and 27% respectively from last year’s game.
Team Giannis beat Team LeBron 184-175 in a non-competitive game, which Mike Malone called the worst game of basketball he has ever seen. On a positive note the celebrity game actually saw an increase in viewership compared to last year.
All-Star Saturday Night and the Rising Star Challenge saw decreased viewership similar to the main event, but Mac McClung’s performance in the Dunk Contest was a standout moment. The declining ratings and viewership may be cause for concern, but there were still some positives to take away from this year’s All-Star Weekend.
Moving forward the ball will be in the NBA’s court to generate more interest. A struggle all too familiar considering the fact that interest has been a bit of a rollercoaster for the last few decades.
Perhaps the best option is to lean more into the gimmicks and alternative challenges. Watching the best basketball players in the world not try is simply just not very entertaining. I know something similar has been done in the past, but I would honestly prefer to watch a game of horse between the NBA’s best shooters and dunkers.
