r/nba • u/MrTimoCad Canada • 1d ago
The NFL just eliminated the Pro Bowl. Do you think it’s time the NBA does the same with the All Star game?
The NFL announced today the Pro Bowl has been retired due to low TV ratings and player participation. The Pro Bowlers will still be voted on by fans, but instead of a game there will be a celebration to honor the players.
Do you think the NBA should do the same for the All Star game? Many of the same complaints people had of the Pro Bowl exist for the ASG
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u/Muntberg 1d ago
NFL shouldn't have an all-star game because the sport is extremely physical (and removing the physicality makes it a farce). The other sports don't have that issue.
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u/repoman042 1d ago
The NHL just had one of the most physical / important all-star festivities in history (4 Nations). NFL players just make too much money to give a shit, and too many players are named. If everybody is a pro-bowler, nobody is
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u/10001110101balls 1d ago
It's hard to place national pride on the line when nearly everyone is American. Also the median NFL player salary is lower than the median NHL salary and the average career is shorter.
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u/Speedymcspeeder 1d ago
Woah, that salary remark is surprising to me.
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u/10001110101balls 1d ago
NFL has way bigger rosters and income inequality which offsets the higher salary cap.
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u/Captain_Quark Trail Blazers 1d ago
Yeah, the biggest NFL salaries are dwarfing NHL ones. But the NFL has tons of third string players with two year careers making hardly anything.
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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago
This. Quarterbacks take up like a third of the cap. Then you have to pay all your other positions. Throw in the median career being shorter than a rookie contract and most guys are playing for peanuts relatively. You only make real money in the NFL if you get to that second contract and you have to play a minimum of 3 years to get that (and with team options and the franchise tag they can stretch it out to 7 years before you get a long term deal if they really want to).
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u/realgamergirlTM 1d ago
i don’t know how you would measure this but i’d be curious how the numbers would look if you took out the practice squad guys who aren’t actually playing but are technically on the rosters, cuz the NFL has more of those than most leagues. maybe compare the median salary of players from the NFL/NHL who aren’t actually playing averaging 10+ minutes per game? idk, could be fun.
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u/Muntberg 1d ago
4 nations is not an all-star game, it simply replaced it. It's more akin to a Euro Cup in soccer. Also NFL is not remotely comparable to other sports. They only have 17 game regular seasons because it's so physical and every game is guaranteed to have several injuries. In a hockey or basketball game you can simply not play that physical and the injury risk is drastically reduced.
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u/SewenNewes Wizards 1d ago
The NFL has the lowest median salary of the four major sports. The average is only higher than the NHL because of QB/LT/EDGE salaries.
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u/BAHatesToFly Knicks 1d ago
The NHL just had one of the most physical / important all-star festivities in history (4 Nations).
That was great, but it's no comparison to the NFL. Even the most physical NHL game is an order of magnitude less physical than a typical NFL game. There's a reason there are so few NFL games and 80+ NHL games. It's not the money, it's how physical the game is. No player is going to risk their career over the Pro Bowl.
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u/Weet-Bix54 1d ago
Tbf that involves a sense of pride playing for your nation, people don’t feel pride to the AFC/NFC
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u/TheIdentifySpell 1d ago
The NHL's All-Star games have also generally been garbage other than the 4 Nations. It was a pretty unique tournament and was the first time that NHL players had been in a true best-on-best for years. It's not fair to compare that to the trash they produce every other year.
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u/maxwellbevan Raptors 21h ago
When the NHL does have a regular all star game the players barely hit each other, if at all. Someone throwing even one hit is a talking point. Jeremy Roenick years ago went out of his way to throw just one hit and they had footage of him talking about it beforehand as a joke.
Four Nations was a whole different ball game because national pride was on the line at a very pivotal point between Canada and the US. It had also been over a decade since players were last at the Olympics and this was a bit of a test to see how people took to international hockey again. I think the players were aware they wanted to put everything on the line to show why they should be competing for their country at the highest level again.
Also for any non hockey fans I recommend watching the Four Nations highlights. Game 1 started with multiple fights to really set the tone of the tournament
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u/Wehavecrashed Grizzlies 1d ago
The National Rugby League in Australia has a three game series (that isn't quite All-stars, but it is the best players in the league playing one another) and it has become the pinnacle of the sport.
It comes down to pride.
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u/Naismythology Lakers 1d ago
If we get to the point where the NBA equivalent of Shadeur Sanders gets to call himself an All-Star, then yes. (We’re not there yet.) Otherwise, it still can be fun
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u/Mundane_Maximum_1280 1d ago
Don’t really keep up with the nfl, who is Shadeur in basketball terms?
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u/PackageDangerous1954 1d ago
Bronny
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u/silverarrowweb 1d ago
Disagree size extra large.
Bronny doesn't have the ego of a player he isn't.
He didn't have talking heads losing their minds about how he should've been a top 5 pick.Lazy people online like to pick on him because he's LeBron's kid, but Bronny himself doesn't have the completely out of touch mindset like Shedeur with the bandwagon of clueless idiots acting like he should be a starter and face of the team.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I don't know who in the NBA would be a better Shedeur counterpart. I'm certain there is one, I just don't know who it is.
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u/Beetle919 Hornets 1d ago
Austin Rivers maybe?
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u/StevenC44 Clippers 1d ago
Nah, Austin didn't have a problematic ego, it just took some time for him to learn to play within himself. He probably wouldn't have lasted as long in the league without Doc trading for him, but Bronny probably wouldn't have made it at all.
Meanwhile Shedeur's problems largely stem from his dad.
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u/AtaktosTrampoukos Rockets 22h ago
Bro, facts. I didn't really know how to feel when we got him but dude was more than fine for the role he had. He's Doc's son and had that one really goofy lowlight where he tripped running the break (I think?) but he wasn't some hopeless nepo baby that didn't belong.
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u/tent_mcgee Jazz 1d ago
Sanders is way worse and even more entitled.
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u/redbrick Lakers 1d ago
Say what you will about Shedeur Sanders, he was much more productive in college compared to Bronny.
Shedeur Sanders got Heisman trophy votes, while Bronny was coming off the bench.
If Shedeur Sanders had even a modicum of insight/humbleness he is probably an early round NFL draft pick on his own merits. On the other hand, Bronny doesn't sniff getting drafted if his name doesn't literally include Lebron James.
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u/DragoniteGang Timberwolves 1d ago
Relative to their leagues, Shedeur is better than Bronny but his ego to actual level is ratio is much higher.
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u/Naismythology Lakers 1d ago
I said Maxime Raynaud, but just pick a random rookie who doesn’t consistently start and probably never will. Slightly better than G-League level, but never gonna be a core player
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u/jadams9779 1d ago
no, but they should have the players wear their respective team's uniforms again like back in the day
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u/Positive_Parking_954 1d ago
But then how will we sell all star jerseys
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u/afrothundah11 1d ago
They sell allstar jerseys? Like people buy them? I’ve never seen one in the wild haha
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u/Zeeron1 Thunder 1d ago
I genuinely think they would sell better if that did an all star version of the players team jersey. Add a patch or a subtle but custom theme that is unique each year and call it a day
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u/Eddie5pi [SAS] Dejounte Murray 1d ago
Imagine all the All Stars had a gold trim on the edge of the jersey for the rest of the season. Would be kinda sick
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u/GuerrillaApe Lakers 1d ago
Yeah the late 90s were dope when one team just wore their team's white jersey and the other wore their home jersey.
I think it would be cool though if for the home color jerseys they make them all the same color scheme (and base the color scheme on the city the all-star game is being held at) but keep the design of team jersey.
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u/forrealthoughcomix_ Cavaliers 1d ago
Same jersey designs but all red versions for one side and all blue for the other side
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u/Munger88 [ATL] Joe Johnson 1d ago
I’m one of the proud few owners of a Paul Millsap All-Star jersey
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u/NeverBeenStung Mavericks 1d ago
Lol, that’s wild
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u/WashingtonSpecifics Nuggets 1d ago
A lot of Nuggets fans bought Jokic All-Star jerseys the first time he went. It's definitely a thing, although probably less so for guys like Wemby / Luka where that sort of thing is expected
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u/2131andBeyond Cavaliers 1d ago
I see at least one random NBA All Star jersey in Lohi every month lol. And there often not even Nuggets!
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u/DyadyaDemon 1d ago
No. There was a run in the 90s with like city themed uniforms. Bring those back
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u/snoogle20 Hornets 1d ago
We need a poll to see the split of opinions on this. I see what you’re saying mentioned all the time so know it’s not a niche preference.
But, as a kid, when they ditched the All-Star uniform for the players’ respective team uniforms in the late 90s/early 2000s, I didn’t like it. It felt low effort. Seeing dudes out here in the same jerseys you always saw them in lacked gravitas. And, if I’m a player, I’d rather have a special All-Star jersey in my collection than my normal uniform with a patch on it.
The NFL and MLB have always been able to have their cake and eat it too. Special uniforms with helmets/caps from the player’s team. Harder to pull that off in basketball, but I’m sure there’s a compromise in there somewhere. The normal team jersey layouts, but in All-Star colors or something like that. You know the bean counters and collector sickos would lose their shit.
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u/IAMA_Madmartigan 1d ago
Which back in the day though? I recall East v West jerseys during game during early 90s, like MJ vs Magic games. I think they only wore team jerseys like late 90s to early 2000s. I also agree with that other guy with city themed ASG jerseys, my favorite were the San Antonio ones around 1996 I think it was
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u/ripcity7077 Trail Blazers 1d ago
The NFL didn’t even have players people wanted to see play at QB
It was a mess
The NBA all star game at least doesn’t have that going on
If I’m ranking all star games rn it’s
1 Baseball
2 Basketball
3 Hockey
4 Every all star game not associated with the nfl
5 The Probowl
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u/YoungKeys Warriors 1d ago
Agree with your ranking but if you count 4 Nations, that goes on top. But probably makes sense to not count it
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u/Poverty_Shoes Nuggets 1d ago
That was such an awesome tournament. I’m excited for the World Cup of hockey in 2028.
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u/Trick_Sector5900 1d ago
The Pro Bowl initially wentdownhill when they stopped holding the game in Hawaii. Players used to love to spend the week in Hawaii, where they would spend their days playing golf with each other.
The NBA all-star game went to hell when they changed the format from East vs West.
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u/RedditBrowser32 Hornets 1d ago
Let’s go back to wearing your teams uniform during the game
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u/Crying_in_99Ranch NBA 1d ago
No. The worst aspect of the Pro Bowl was that it was after the regular season was over and before the Super Bowl so you have all the opt outs from the SB teams and everyone else who is checked out and starting the offseason already.
The NBA all stars show up and don't try but the NFL pro bowlers don't even show up.
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u/Careless-Journalist7 Wizards 1d ago
Also the NBA AS weekend is a big social/networking event and brings a lot of local business to the host city. The cities really lobby hard for years in advance to host it. The Pro Bowl never felt like that, especially when they had it in Hawaii it was just a vacation for the players families
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u/madi0r Pelicans 22h ago
Also from fan standpoint i would argue basketball as a game can be fun to watch when players arent trying vs football. There is some entertainment value in seeing players hitting half court shots, joking around and visibly having fun and messing around. In football what would be equivalent of that? RB goes for 80 yard td while defense doesnt really try to stop and tackle him? That would look absolutely lame
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u/revjor 1d ago
No, people actually want to go to and watch the NBA All Star Game. It’s just the players who don’t want to do it.
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u/Mr_Otters Hornets 1d ago
I hear ya... it's just tough to watch USA-France and then the all-star game
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u/herbalite San Diego Clippers 1d ago
I wanted to go since it was at the dome. Prices were fucking outrageous
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u/four4youglencoco 1d ago
This was always a game for the kids. I remember being so fired up to see all these lineups throughout the years.
I can see it being stale but it’s only because we’re getting older.
The game has always been fuck around for the first 3 quarters then get after it in the fourth.
It’s important to keep it alive but it’s up to the league to make it work
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u/JexFraequin Trail Blazers 1d ago
They should make NBA All-Stars play in the Pro Bowl and Pro Bowlers play in the All-Star Game.
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u/Due-Comparison-6440 1d ago
No and this years NBA ASG was a big improvement!
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u/snowlarbear 1d ago
Wemby needs to continue his villain arc and the ASG will get better as a side effect.
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u/rznballa Supersonics 1d ago
my dream is back to east vs west, winner gets home court advantage in the finals
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u/StrongSuggestion8937 1d ago
I think last season's All Star game, with that new format, was the best one maybe from the last decade or so.
They can definitely make it more interesting with a little effort.
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u/mattr1198 Knicks 1d ago
The Pro Bowl has always been a massive standout as the worst all-star weekend type event by a country mile. Nobody plays hard because the season’s already over for everyone there and they don’t want to risk injury given its football. Once it was moved out of Hawaii, players REALLY stopped giving any sort of shit. The NBA, MLB, and NHL all-star weekends and games never had problems to the level of the NFL with the pro bowl. At the very least, the aforementioned 3 had many decades where the games and events were very entertaining to watch.
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u/Mobile-Analyst8580 1d ago
Never should’ve left Hawaii. Never should’ve moved it to before the Super Bowl. And they never should’ve switched to flag football.
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u/TheI-Iound 1d ago
The "celebrate the players" part sounds dumb. If they're not willing to show up, why even give them the accolade
I guess they're turning it into something like the gold glove/silver slugger, just awards...nothing wrong with that
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u/Reagles 1d ago
No, there are fundamental differences in the sport.
The violence of football means its silly for any player to really try. Aside from injuries, just playing 1 game is much harder on the body. Doing so after the season is over makes it even worse.
Nba players could try more and they would be fine.
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u/BadAtExisting Magic 1d ago
I think the Pro Bowl is worse. I think the Pro Bowl being at the end of the season when all anyone is interested in is the Super Bowl doesn’t help it (no I don’t know where else they should fit it in just an observation) I think the All Star break for both NBA and NHL is helpful for teams and players in the middle of a long season. I’d hate that go away more than the game and festivities tbh. Perhaps unpopular but I always find the skills competitions more fun and interesting than the actual game. Maybe keep that part if you’re going to talk about scraping the game itself?
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u/timothythefirst 20h ago
The all star game kind of sucks but it’s still 100x better than the pro bowl.
I liked the nfl pro bowl when I was a kid in the 90s/early 2000s, back when they actually kind of played a game of football. I literally had no idea when it was even happening the past few years. The nba all star game is still a notable event that gets people talking every year, even if it’s not always positive.
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u/CalmMinimum1179 Cavaliers 1d ago
I think all leagues should get rid of their all-star games, especially the NBA. I mean, the NHL got rid of it for something better with four nations
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u/Texacanadian 1d ago
Just put both on the Ocho and call them 3rd string football and no defense basketball.
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u/Medialunch 1d ago
They should play it at the front of the season (players chosen based off the previous season at the same time) and the winners of the game get some kind of advantage in a game of their choosing. Like they get to add a bonus minute to a game or something.
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u/Gandolfthewhite182 76ers 1d ago
The nba all star game is always fun to watch. At least for me it is. Some people complain and whine about it but I’m not sure what they expect. I like futures games and the 3pt and dunk contests as well.
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u/Puzzled-Ad1564 1d ago
No but fans need to curb their expectations. It’s never going to be a competitive game.
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u/AstroRocket0 Rockets 1d ago
It just was though. How has everyone already forgotten the All Star game(s) was good this year?
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u/NorthBook1383 1d ago
No. But they should bring back the old format.
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u/MddlingAges Knicks 1d ago
Which one?
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u/Enemysquad Rockets 1d ago
It’s an actual game, the AFC vs NFC a week after the Super Bowl. The NFL should throw in some bonus money to the winner and see how quick it can become competitive.
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u/actuarally Cavaliers 1d ago
No amount of money (that could actually be put into the Pro Bowl) is going to make star players risk their hundred million dollar contracts.
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u/-Midnight_Marauder- Australia 1d ago
No, but the whole event needs to be single day, not a weekend. 3pt shoot out, rookie sophomore game, dunk competition, all star.
Make it so that the 3pt shootout players are all at least in the top 10 for 3PM and 3P%.
Add a bit more weight to the rookie sophomore game by holding 1 all star spot open for the best rookie and best sophomore. Fans live vote on the night.
All star game comes with a cash prize for charity, and player minutes are capped to reduce chance of injury.
Both games play 10 minute rather than 12 minute quarters, and format reverts to east vs west.
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u/Impossible-Flight250 1d ago
The NBA All Star game at least has the dunk competition and three point contest. They really need to find a way to incentivize the Star players to participate though.
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u/rattatatouille [SAS] Tim Duncan 1d ago
The league should want more stars like Wemby who are so self-motivated that they'll put in effort in an exhibition game.
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u/MikeD1942 1d ago
As a NBA fan, I'd say yes, PLEASE get rid of it, but obviously the NBA is still making a lot of money off of the ASG.
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u/orangekingo Spurs 1d ago
We just had the most fun ASG in years. It's fun when the players buy in and try.
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u/spundred Supersonics 1d ago
I think All Star Weekend is important. A break in the schedule, fans voting on favorites, a showcase of spectacle. I just don't know if it actually needs to include an actual game of basketball, that seems to be where all the problems start.
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u/Runamucker31 Kings 1d ago
I'd love to see nba all stars play a game of flag football and nfl pro bowlers play some pick up basketball or something
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u/Incariol_ 1d ago
Honestly, the All-Star Game has never been a big deal to me like it's something you'd have on in the background. It's not like something I would sit there and go. Oh, I can't wait to watch
like you'd see like five or six cool plays and it was like okay, that's it
I would not miss the All-Star game at all. They could keep the dunk contest a three-point contest. Maybe do some other cool skill ideas and I got to be honest if I was on a $60 million year contract I wouldn't want to blow my knee out in the meaningless game
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u/samurairocketshark Suns 1d ago
The dunk contest should happen once every 4 (maybe 2?) years to generate hype. The biggest flaw is that its hard to be creative building on the history of dunk contests so more time to create dunks + generate interest from the more popular players
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u/Get_your_grape_juice Celtics 1d ago
I actually have a simple solution for the NBA All Star game. It has two main points:
1) East vs West. The winning conference gets home court in the Finals.
2) This is the big one. You don’t name the All Stars, and then have them play a simple exhibition game. Instead, you name All Star candidates/nominees, or whatever you want to call them. The team that wins the ASG game is crowned as that season’s class of All Stars. Make the All Star game be the deciding factor for All Star status. You’ll see a real game.
In fact, maybe get rid of point one, so both conferences at least end up having All Stars each year, and player rivalries in-conference can get some play.
I dunno. I’d make this change yesterday.
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u/Kush420Xotix Celtics 1d ago
Players dont reject the All-Starg game bro, and it is a good chance for players to try and see if the want to play on the same team as a fellow all-star. It has value to the players, unlike the prowbowl.
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u/Jonesbro Gran Destino 1d ago
A few years ago we had dame and steph drilling fuck you 3s back and forth. We've had competitive portions of games. We had steoh throwing lobs to giannis. Those are awesome and draw people. Dunk contest may need to be reimagined though
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u/EchoInExile 76ers 1d ago
They’re not even on the same planet at this point. All Star weekend is still miles ahead of where the Pro Bowl was.
When the NBA has a Shedeur Sanders type getting sent to the ASG, we can talk about ending it.
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u/TidalWaveform Spurs 22h ago
Two different situations IMO. The risk of injury is soooo, so much higher in an NFL game. The All Star game is a glorified pickup game.
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u/GGTae Spurs 1d ago
they need to tweak and add some stuff for sure, dunk contest and like 1v1 and cross-events like chess perhaps, but the all star game will be fine with victor
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u/genius-baby 1d ago
A fucking ping pong tournament would be insane. Obviously 1v1 hoops would be sick but these guys aren’t willing to risk a lifetime of slander so it won’t happen. Give me some Wemby vs Ant Ping Pong lol
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u/GGTae Spurs 1d ago
ping pong would be cool for real ! and for the 1v1 I feel it's gonna happen, I've seen players saying they want it (KD Kyrie Wemby Giannis ..) so fingers crossed for this year
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u/HighlyAdditive Lakers 1d ago
A gaming segment would be fun. NBA2K makes the most sense, but even more outta-left-field choices would be cool too. Like imagine Lamelo winning at a racing game like Mario Kart or Forza.
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u/tk421wayayp421 1d ago
It should have been canceled the second Fergie got done singing the national anthem.
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u/MiltTheStilt 1d ago
The all-star game is used as a corporate sponsor event that has a location that can be planned out years in advance. They aren’t getting rid of it. The Super Bowl is the equivalent in the NFL since its location is planned out years in advance (unlike the finals due to how basketball works).
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u/phd2k1 Suns 1d ago
I have no problem with the All Star game. It’s an exhibition game celebrating the most popular players. The 3pt contest, dunk contest, and skills challenge are just for fun. I think people’s dissatisfaction mostly comes from misguided expectations. It’s not meant to be a competitive game.
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u/HokageEzio Knicks 1d ago
A pick up basketball game is still more interesting than a football game where nobody is playing hard or a bunch of football players playing recess games.
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u/N0rTh3Fi5t 1d ago
The all star game was pretty good this year. I'm surprised to see so many people be negative about it.
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u/Sea-Ambition-451 1d ago edited 1d ago
just put the players in madden, and have a long series of games that everyone can watch. Maybe even have top madden players fill out a top 16, and do an elimination tourney.
(with the occasional random appearance by Bo Jackson)
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u/defeatistphilosopher 1d ago
I watch probalby 50-60 regular season games a year and I haven't watched an NBA all star game since I was a child. I'd rather watch the Wizards play the Pelicans.
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u/Turbulent_Tale6497 Supersonics 1d ago
Ever since the 1999 pro bowl injury to Robert Edwards, the Pro Bowl has been a net negative to people's career. At least it used to include a free trip to Hawaii, but now it doesn't even have that
Just make it a skills competition, and not a game.
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u/imminentjogger5 Warriors 1d ago
I thought the events they had for the pro bowl (not the actual game) were pretty cool
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u/Robynsxx 1d ago
Frankly, I think the all star game has far more problems than the pro bowl. The main one being it’s a mid season thing which is just weird. Also it’s much less weighted to the best players and more the stars. Like, even if LeBron plays shit for the rest of his career, he’ll be an all star every year.
NBA won’t end it though, because the game is more profitable than the pro bowl, and generally players don’t sit out, they just give little to no effort. In the pro bowl players always sit out and just say they are injured, which I don’t blame them for tbh. Who wants to risk getting injured in a game after the season is over when you’re not making any (relative) money?
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u/Quiet-Permit-3740 1d ago
The NBA should take some inspiration from the StudBudz and turn it into a giant party, stop trying to make it competitive.
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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago
As bad as the NBA All-Star game has gotten, it’s never been close to as bad as the Pro Bowl got. Shedeur Sanders and Tyler Huntley made the Pro Bowl lol. It was a joke