How can we restore the joy to the NBA All-Star Game? The WNBA showed the way

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2 days ago

When's the last time you had fun watching an NBA All-Star game?
A league's All-Star Game is a marquee event and should be one filled with hype and excitement. But in recent years, the conversation around the NBA's All-Star festivities has been about what needs changing to make it more interesting.
The WNBA, however, is seeing record viewership and attendance. Growing enthusiasm around the W has made its All-Star events a hot topic on social media.
The NBA All-Star Game of today is about the three Rs: rest, recovery and ramping up for the playoffs. But NBA players could take one specific note from the W: This year's WNBA All-Star Weekend turned into a celebration of its players, fans and culture. With more people watching, WNBA players also used the opportunity to advocate for their collective bargaining discussions with T-shirts that read 'Pay us what you owe us' during pregame.
Sharing the joy of playing basketball should be a layup. The NBA will soon play its 80th season, and we are now experiencing a shift in the game with more international players, as well as what looks like a changing of the guard with players such as LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant being late in their careers.
Seeing the veterans and younger players tell their stories with basketball as the background would offer a nice change of pace. Learning what niche or random interest or hobby players have would help highlight who they are for casual fans unable to recite the information typically found on the back of a trading card.
This season, the WNBA added hockey-like live-ball substitutions and the 4-point line to make things more interesting. The game itself wasn't highly competitive (or featured much defense) as Team Collier blew out Team Clark 151-131. But the hype wasn't around the game or skills challenges. Fans seemed to understand it was an exhibition, and players weren't going to play super hard in a game that didn't count.
Instead, the enjoyment came from the excitement of players and the weekend itself, helped in part by the popularity of the 72-hour StudBudz livestream.
The StudBudz, run by Minnesota Lynx players and close friends Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, gave WNBA fans a rare glimpse into players' off-court lives, sharing behind-the-scenes looks at their experiences during their All-Star weekend. It was the kind of access traditional media doesn't have.
Fans on social media were sharing clips of every ounce of access they could get. With the use of livestreams, WNBA players were able to give fans at home an unprecedented peek behind the curtain.
At the WNBA All-Star Game, players mingled and integrated themselves in many events like merchandise pop-ups, panels and parties with the fans. They signed everything. They showed up for their fans and, in some cases, allowed them to get close to them. Players, alumni and fans connected in a way we don't normally get to see, but it has become common for the W.
That's what All-Star Weekend should be about: sharing that joy and making the players accessible and relatable, allowing fans to connect beyond a player's on-court performance.
'(WNBA) players have a clear understanding that this particular weekend is about the fans,' Connecticut Sun sideline reporter Terrika Foster-Brasby said. 'You obviously want to protect your players, and you want to ensure that your players have security and that you know there aren't random people doing and saying crazy things.
'But there is a level of accessibility that you have with women in the WNBA that you don't have with men in the NBA. I think that kind of creates this vision that the NBA players are sort of untouchable, or that they are unapproachable.'
While that might not be so easy to do with NBA players, humanizing players is one of the things making the WNBA different from other leagues. Seeing players laughing, dancing and having fun with one another reminds fans these aren't just athletes who accomplish incredible things on the court, but multidimensional people — something we don't see much of at the NBA All-Star Game. Seeing coaches and even commissioner Cathy Engelbert interact with fans adds to the WNBA's charm.
At the NBA All-Star Game, players look as if it's a chore to be there. During the 2025 Skills Challenge, Team Spurs, composed of veteran Chris Paul and French basketball prodigy Victor Wembanyama, intentionally missed their shots to try to cut down on their time and move on to the next obstacle. The drill consisted of a variety of passes before the players reached a rack of balls to shoot. Paul and Wembanyama weren't even trying to connect on their shot attempts.
The crowd, aware of the gamesmanship on display, rained boos on Paul. The duo was disqualified for not taking valid shots.
While Paul and Wembanyama thought this strategy would benefit them, it was a joyless moment for the fans. Seeing one of the greatest point guards of all time and a 7-4 big man show the same skills would not only have had the crowd rocking and given them something to cheer for, but also have been a great example of how NBA players' skills have evolved.
This year's NBA All-Star Game included a new tournament-like format, and the reception from fans was mixed. The frequent discussion of format changes around the NBA's game has shown that ship's probably sailed in terms of legislating the fun and excitement back into the event. Changing the rules and adding gimmicks hasn't yet seemed to make the All-Star Game more interesting to fans or players. Fans know they're watching a game that doesn't count, but they still want to see their favorites putting on a show.
While there was a complete lack of defense in the women's game, they looked as if they enjoyed being there. The celebratory feel of the WNBA's All-Star Weekend shone through the players.
Even with several tweaks to the format throughout the last few years, the moments of joy have been fleeting recently at the NBA All-Star Weekend. The players selected for the All-Star Game are already the league's elite, so what incentive can motivate them to play any harder?
'I think the players want to be viewed as regular guys, as regular human beings having fun, hanging out with my friends and my guys. I don't think the league always puts them in the best position to give them that human aspect,' Foster-Brasby said. 'You can see it even at W All-Star, because a lot of times NBA players are there, and they don't necessarily have that guarded view during WNBA All-Star that they have during NBA All-Star. You can see it feels like they're a little bit more relaxed, and they feel a little bit more comfortable within that space.'
Maybe instead of new rules, the NBA needs to make the weekend more player and fan-focused. The NBA has open practices on All-Star Saturday, but there is always room for more fan engagement.
The WNBA community has its groups and cliques among the fan base, and they're close-knit. Access and connectivity to the players have organically created a growing interest in the league and the players as individuals. All-Star Weekend highlighted that in a way we'd never seen before.
'I think proximity and authenticity is the name of the game,' said Khristina Williams, host 'In Case You Missed It,' a women's basketball podcast. 'WNBA players are digital natives. Utilizing social media … that type of technology is always going to hit for women's sports or women's basketball, because for years and years none of their stuff was available. They've capitalized on building their brands through connecting with their fans.'
The NBA All-Star break was extended during the 2013-14 season from five days to seven to allow players more time to rest, but the break isn't the true midpoint of the season, as teams head into the break having played more than 50 games. Understandably, players don't want to risk injury in a game that doesn't count. But when players appear as if they don't care about participating in the events, it's neither fun nor entertaining.
When Major League Baseball held the first All-Star Game on July 6, 1933, at Comiskey Park in Chicago ('the Game of the Century,' according to the Chicago Tribune) to coincide with the 1933 World's Fair, the intention was a celebration of the sport and an opportunity to showcase baseball's top talent and their skills.
The NBA held its first All-Star Game at Boston Garden on March 2, 1951. A crowd of more than 10,000 packed the arena to see the league's best. Inaugural All-Star MVP 'Easy' Ed Macauley of the Boston Celtics finished with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting as the East defeated the West 111-94. Like MLB, the game became a fan favorite.
But it's not easy for any league to host an All-Star Game. Times have changed. Before interleague play, it was rare for American League fans to see National League players and vice versa. In the NBA, it was rare for someone in Cleveland to see the Denver Nuggets or the Portland Trail Blazers. All-Star games were the places to see the best in one spot. Now, with NBA League Pass and MLB Extra Innings, we can see any player at any time. The NFL and NHL have also recently changed their formats as leagues are constantly trying things to infuse new life into their midseason break.
MLB's All-Star Game has seen its popularity diminished because superstars don't play the majority of the game and many starters leave before it ends. This year's Midsummer Classic ended in a tie after nine innings, so it led to the first All-Star swing-off. Despite the lack of starters like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, the mini-home run derby went over well and brought some of the joy back to the event.
If the NBA wants to infuse some enthusiasm into the events, the WNBA just gave them a great playbook to follow and make their own. Players should see All-Star Weekend as an opportunity to take off their cool and let people see who they are, honor the history of the game and celebrate with the fans.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
NBA, WNBA, Culture
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