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Jaylen Brown Open to All-Star Game in Boston, Says Chase Center Was 'a Little Empty'

The All-Star game hasn't been to Bean Town since 1964.

Brigid Kennedy

Guard Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics during the 2025 NBA All Star Game on Feb 16, 2025.
Guard Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics during the 2025 NBA All Star Game on Feb 16, 2025. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
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Now that the NBA's completely revamped 2024–25 All-Star weekend has concluded, it seems to be the pretty unanimous consensus among pundits and players that the new format was a bust.

The league wanted to amp up both interest from the public and buy-in from the league, but the tweaks it made—like adding appearances from Kevin Hart and Mr. Beast, plus a momentum-killing Inside the NBA tribute, among other changes—just did not deliver.

So, there are lots of ideas circulating at the moment, seeing as there is still an All-Star problem to fix. And one idea that was thrown around Sunday night? Bringing the game to Boston—at the very least, Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown thinks it could be a good idea.

"That would be great," Brown told Boston Globe reporter Gary Washburn, who was the one to suggest Bean Town. "That would be awesome. I think the city is equipped for it. I think the fans, you got the craziest fans in the world in Boston, so I'm sure that they would enjoy it. It kind of seemed like it was a little empty in here tonight, I don't think in Boston that would happen. So yeah, if we bring the All-Star game to Boston I would love to be there and I would love to participate."

Watch that answer from Sunday night below:

Of course, Brown has no actual control over where the game is played and certainly has an obvious interest in seeing it played in Boston—so it's not surprising to hear him endorse this idea. But it could be pretty cool, considering the passion of the city's sports fans and the fact that Boston hasn't hosted the game since 1964.

If it were to happen, though, it couldn't be until 2028, at the earliest—the 2026 All-Star game will be held in Los Angeles at the Clippers' Intuit Dome, while the 2027 contest is already slated for the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.

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