NBA All-Star Weekend Winners and Losers

Most of the NBA’s All-Star festivities have grown stale or been transformed into something flawed. But a few winners managed to emerge from the weekend.

Mercifully, the 2023 NBA All-Star break has finally come to an end. Let’s run through some winners and losers from the weekend’s festivities…

Winner: Mac McClung

McClung went from G-League player/YouTube sensation to dunk contest champion. Despite playing only 25 minutes in his NBA career. McClung’s theatrics were so refreshing he was called to the big stage Sunday night to introduce Post Malone’s pregame concert. Did McClung really save the contest? Probably not. Can he use what he did Saturday night to personally profit in the short term? Almost definitely! Good for Mac, who absolutely earned his 15 minutes of fame.

Mac McClung may not have saved the dunk contest, as Shaquille O’Neal suggested, but he certainly shined in an event that needs an overhaul :: Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports

Loser: The Dunk Contest

When the winner of the weekend’s marquee-but-not-really-anymore event has played only 25 minutes in the NBA (and 0 this season), it’s not exactly a star-studded affair. At this point, the league would be better off casting participants from YouTube or Instagram mixtapes as opposed to actual NBA players. If the objective is to see the game’s best performing slam dunks, unfortunately that ship seems to have sailed. If the goal is to see incredible dunks, that’s an option for the NBA, but it needs to lean into that aspect of the contest instead of giving us these subpar fields. Find the best dunkers from around the world no matter if they play professionally. I literally already forgot who was in the contest besides McClung.

Winner: South Asian Diaspora

As an Indian immigrant, it was my dream to play on the same basketball court as Dwyane Wade. I couldn’t quite make it happen, but seeing Hasan Minhaj and Ranveer Singh getting coached up by the three-time champ will absolutely suffice.

Loser: Skills Competition

Another event that used to be fun and draw up-and-coming players. The 2007 field included LeBron, Wade, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul! Now it’s been replaced by a complicated format and a showcase for nepotism. If the non-Giannis Antetokounmpos were so celebrated for their skills, you’d think they’d play a little more in the actual games. The old shooting stars competition was better than whatever this has become.

Winner: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown

Tatum was one of the All-Star Game’s most shameless chuckers and it earned him an MVP. Meanwhile, he and Brown were responsible some of the only entertainment on Sunday night when they traded a few possessions going one-on-one late in the third quarter. In what was otherwise a particularly mind-numbing snoozefest, Tatum and Brown briefly provided some much needed energy.

Jayson Tatum set a new scoring record (55 points) for the All-Star Game to win MVP honors :: Christopher Creveling/USA TODAY Sports

Loser: In-Game Action

The pregame draft took way too long and was comically overproduced. Why was Ernie Johnson there? Just let the players pick teams as if it were an actual pickup game. This was a frustrating half measure. To make matters worse, the overly long draft was followed by a musical performance before two national anthems. And for the icing on the cake, halftime lasted nearly 45 minutes because of yet another LeBron scoring celebration. (At least we got Tems and Burna Boy.) For people who tuned in to watch fun basketball stuff, there was surprisingly very little of it relative to all the other hoopla.

Winner: Draymond Green

His blunt in-game questions and observations deserve to be on the main broadcast moving forward.

Loser: Elam Ending

For the Elam Ending to actually be exciting, both teams need to be trying to win. Team LeBron folded pretty early in the fourth. The new format has been hit-or-miss largely due to inconsistent effort from the players on the floor. I still think the Elam Ending has a place in the NBA. The league needs to find a better showcase for it, though. The upcoming midseason tournament seems like a much better opportunity to feature the excitement of a points chase.

Loser: The All-Star Weekend Concept

Look, I’m really not trying to be a curmudgeon about this. I love All-Star weekend and have my whole life. I still get excited seeing all the talent on the floor together. And the NBA generally does a great job celebrating its history. With all that said, the current setup doesn’t seem to be working. Who is the target audience? Are kids even enjoying this? The entire weekend is over-sponsored, over-produced, and inauthentic. Everyone seems disengaged half the time. I’m not even talking about the game itself, which will always ebb and flow in terms of competitiveness. But if the weekend is supposed to show off how exciting the NBA is, I’m not sure it‘s succeeding as presently constructed.