The NBA All-Star game is entertainment. Let it be so. – Andscape

“The old days finished, and I say” goodbye “. »- Nikki Giovanni, Conversations

In the last 72 hours, I listened with amusement to the veterans and the NBA analysts who should know better, to twist my hands and talk about the good old days with regard to the NBA All-Star game.

They rush on how the stars “of my day” arose. They urge this new group of NBA players for not “trying”. They return to the good old days when NBA used the game of stars as a vehicle to prove who was the best. Critics wonder how the competitive spirit of the NBA stars game has disappeared and what pressure can be exerted to have these all-stars hard play.

At the time when the NBA Championship Series was still late and the Dunk was fresh and new, the game of the stars was competitive and the Slam Dunk competition was innovative. At the same time, the NBA players participated in the summer league matches and played in places like the Rucker League in New York, which was considered a rite of passage.

The NBA has evaluated by a free competition, except when it counts – and it counts during the playoffs. The game of stars is largely a social extravagance with a little sprinkled basketball.

Today’s players are more athletic than ever. They played more basketball than ever. They participated on several levels longer than ever. They also play a rigorous 82 game calendar. The game of stars is simply a bridge towards the rest of the NBA calendar and the playoffs.

Stop the release of the hands and accept it.

In 2023, the National Football League acknowledged that it was ridiculous to hold a full match of contact Pro Bowl and happened in a football and skills match.

The National Hockey League temporarily abandoned its All-Star format this month in favor of the confrontation of the 4 nations presenting teams representing Canada, Finland, Sweeden and the United States. The tournament will wrap on Wednesday. The competition, of all I have read, was fierce.

Each year, with various degrees of non-subsidians, the NBA tried all the different types of configurations to rekindle interest and excitation in its All-Star game. None of the formats obtained the result of restoring a competitive advantage in the game.

But why should there be an “advantage” in an exhibition game?

This year, the League adopted a mini-format of tournament featuring four teams: three teams from NBA All-Stars and the winners of the Rising Stars challenge which was played on February 14. Charles Barkley’s world stars won the first game. The Shaquille O’Neil OGS beaten the rising stars trained by Candace Parker. The OG defeated world stars in a dull anti-climatic championship game generally without defense and constant efforts.

This effort will come during the playoffs and in some games necessary to qualify for the playoffs. Why is it so difficult to understand for criticism?

One might think that an appreciation for the stars of the playing NBA would have been satisfied during the Paris Olympic Games this summer when the male team of the United States played brilliantly-returning to beat Serbia in the semi-finals , then winning the gold medal by beating France. We saw LeBron James at his best, Stephen Curry to his best, Kevin during his best. Why would someone expect this kind of effort in an All-Star game without meaning to exceed me.

But as the NBA continues to launch ideas against the wall, here is a suggestion for the 2026 stars game in Los Angeles.

Next year, the emblematic Harlem Globetrotters will celebrate the team’s 100th anniversary. The NBA should recognize the anniversary of Globetrotters in its window game by returning to East / West format and by appointing the Globetrottters team team and Team Rens in honor of the New York Renaissance, the first basketball team -Procifier -bond belonging to blacks. Each team would carry the Globetrotters and Rens uniforms.

Given all the gadgets that the NBA tried, why not rely on a real black story?

The globetrotters were shows in front of the Lakers. What was considered the clown at the time – Slick Ball Danding, “Trick” Shots, Shot Shting, even the Dunks – became a standard part of the NBA game for a long time. And the “Trotters, as well as the RENS, were a refuge for the great black players prohibited from playing in white professional leagues.

With the Harlem Rens, the globetrotters provided the best competition that each of them could find. In 1939, the RENS won the first world professional basketball championship. In the 1940s and 1950s, the “Trotters could have claimed to be the best team in the United States.

They beat powerful teams of Minneapolis Lakers entirely white in 1948 and 1949, and some make the argument that the high -level victories of the Globetrotters pushed the NBA to de -regional in 1950. The former Globetrotter Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton reported with the New York Knicks, Nethaniel, Clifton, Clifton with New York Knicks, Nethaniel, Clifton, Clifton with the New York Knicks, Nethanel, Clifton, Clifton, signs with the New York Knicks, Nathaniel becoming the first black player to sign an NBA contract. The same year, Chuck Cooper became the first player drafted by an NBA team when the Boston Celtics took it. Still in 1950, Earl Lloyd became the first African American to play in a NBA match.

At a time when attempts are made to launder the history of blacks, a Globetrotters / Rens NBA star match next year in Los Angeles would present the opportunity for the League to set the record straight. Such a game on the main scene of the NBA would educate many of its players and tell the public how the NBA had an abundance of black players.

Indeed, if the league players study the history of the globetrotters and the parallel history of the Harlem Rens, they could be forced, without gadgets, to take the game seriously. In doing so, the players would honor these two emblematic franchises and the black men who played on them.

The Sunday’s star match was a valiant swing and missed by the NBA to restore the shine of the stars match. Next year, the NBA is expected to pay tribute.

Yes, the NBA All-Star Game is an exhibition, but a Globetrotters-Rens tribute is a powerful story.