Draymond Green's take about the NBA's Rising Stars not deserving the All-Star Game is harsh but fair

USA Today

16-02-2025

You can count Draymond Green among the skeptics about the NBA's new format for the 2025 All-Star Game we'll see on Sunday night. Unsurprisingly, his reservation is about some of the league's younger players getting to skip steps, so to speak, en route to one of the game's more distinguished honors of participating in one of the NBA's primary preferred showcases.
According to longtime NBA reporter Marc J. Spears, Green reportedly doesn't like that the NBA's Rising Stars this season — bright first and second-year players like Amen Thompson and Stephon Castle, who were recognized for their early ascents but not selected for the All-Star Game roster itself — get to play in the All-Star Game because of said shift in format.
Green described the idea of playing on the Sunday of All-Star Weekend as a 'privilege' established stars and difference-makers should definitively earn rather than, more or less, get into by default.
And honestly? While there are some caveats here and there, it's hard to disagree with him:
Draymond to Marc Spears:
"These young guys, if they're on the rising stars team, they don't deserve the privilege of playing on Sunday" pic.twitter.com/OqswkiBo0C
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) February 16, 2025
Green is absolutely right that it should be a privilege to share a court with the best men's basketball players on the planet in a flashy exhibition.
Still, given concerns over a lack of fiery All-Star Game competition between NBA stars over the last decade or so, the NBA gets to dictate what that privilege means. That is, as a business trying to make money, at least. In this case, the league doesn't think veterans took the All-Star Game seriously enough, so it's trying to add in newfangled (and convoluted) wrinkles to try and inject energy to attract fans. It (still?) wants to use the All-Star Game to (theoretically) better sell the league.
Ultimately, while quite silly and overreactive to me, that is the NBA's prerogative.
Because to me, we've lost some key points in this overwrought and tired conversation we seemingly have about the NBA All-Star Game every year.
For one, the NBA does not need the All-Star Game to sell itself anymore. It used to be a big deal when we weren't saddled with the rise of the internet and social media that didn't give us constant access to superstars at our fingertips. Back in the day, I imagine it was thrilling to see some of the game's biggest names all in one place with no other means to watch them throughout the season other than occasional national broadcasts.
But that is no longer our reality. The NBA has one of the most 'online' fandoms around. You can find ceaseless clips of vicious Anthony Edwards dunks, silky smooth Kevin Durant midrange jumpers, and technically perfect Nikola Jokic floaters any time you want. You can search for quotes, clips, and full-length highlight videos on a whim.
It's a virtual basketball buffet where you can have whatever you want, whenever you want.
The All-Star Game, from this perspective, is an antiquated, vestigial relic being unnecessarily propped up by a league that is unnecessarily acting desperate to protect its apparently sacred importance.
I understand there are concerns about consistent effort from NBA stars in the All-Star Game and outside of it. Count me in the camp of people who believe that these extraordinarily privileged athletes (from a financial sense) don't always respect the game of basketball with the proper amount of effort and intensity that they should throughout a season. It's likely one of the bigger reasons some folks have soured on the NBA (however, I don't think all of these assessments are in good faith).
At the same time, though, I am sympathetic to the grind of a long, arduous 82-game season. No one feels that grind more than stars, some of whom are playing close to 40 minutes a night, putting their bodies through the wringer in a sport with increasingly faster, stronger, and better athletes with each passing year. That takes an immeasurable toll over time, and that's for games that actually count for something.
The All-Star Game doesn't count for anything. For all these already exhausted stars, pushing themselves to the limit with nothing to gain — I would venture to guess they have made the same calculation about increased accessibility to the shows they put on that I have — is a fruitless endeavor. They can only lose at a time when they really just want a much-needed extended break, as a majority of the league gets.
None of this changes that getting to play in the All-Star Game should remain an exceptional privilege reserved for the cream of the crop. Because the NBA's veteran stars, by getting selected for this event, should get to dictate what the on-court product looks like. If they want to screw around with their esteemed peers for 2.5 hours, so be it. That is their decision, and it can still be a celebration of basketball with the core of the NBA universe all in one city for a weekend.
Like it or not, the NBA's stars have earned that right. It should be reserved for them and them alone.