Fansided

A plea to televise the NBA All-Star Draft

By Rory Masterson

NEW ORLEANS - FEBRUARY 19: A close up shot of the Official NBA Spalding All-Star basketball during the 2017 NBA All-Star Game on February 19, 2017 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS - FEBRUARY 19: A close up shot of the Official NBA Spalding All-Star basketball during the 2017 NBA All-Star Game on February 19, 2017 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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If ever there is a lull in the 24-hour, 365-day and twice-on-Sundays NBA schedule, that time is now, roughly between Christmas and the trade deadline. Now is when we see teams (mostly) fully formed and hitting the rhythms we expect them to maintain as they round the corner to push for the playoffs, the Chicago Bulls’ recent run of surprising competence notwithstanding. A DeMar DeRozan scoring outburst here, an Isaiah Thomas return there and a relatively minor James Harden injury over there keep things interesting in the interim, but for the most part, a team’s game-to-game performance does not affect its seasonal narrative over the course of these two months or so.

The exception has always been All-Star Weekend, which, if not for the game itself, typically has enough pomp and circumstance tied into it to engage fans both rabid and casual (this year, following the Great DeMarcus Cousins Debacle of 2017, the trade deadline will also fall into this period, coming before All-Star Weekend, but I digress). All-Star Saturday night has usually provided the main water cooler fodder for the following Monday, with its array of eye-catching events — particularly the dunk contest — which normally don’t dominate a regular season game’s story, leaving the All-Star Game itself as something of an afterthought.

In an effort to inject life into the game, and borrowing a page out of the NHL’s book, the league announced this season, rather than having the All-Stars sequestered by conference, the top two vote-getters would be team captains, with those two choosing from the remaining players to form teams, schoolyard-style. It was a marvelous bit of whimsy from a league which has been especially forward-thinking in its attempts to create a palatable, multifaceted product over the past decade.

There’s one catch, however, and it’s a doozy: neither the draft itself, nor its results, will be televised. The logic here seems to be to protecting the egos of those involved, particularly the last man standing, which is fine until one considers the fan voting results are already public – explaining why we know that Tim Quarterman somehow received 767 votes for last year’s game.

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Being delicate about ego suggests a momentary suspension of knowledge of the fact that max contracts exist, and players know when they don’t receive one. Being delicate about ego, in truth, suggests a momentary suspension of knowledge of the fact that the All-Star Game exists at all for nonparticipants. The NBA is going to pick now, a clear opportunity to expand its trendiness, to protect its players? Why not give them a little more leverage at CBA talks instead, if the league is so concerned?

Turning the All-Star Game into a pickup game was a boon for the NBA, a true stroke of genius at a time when the league’s health is already excellent. Hiding the All-Star draft, and its results, is borderline malpractice. The NBA must rectify this obscene mistake, before everyone forgets it implemented a draft at all after again tuning out of the All-Star Game.

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