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Josh Hart: I'm not gonna lie. Now, like it was all it was always like you waited to see the dunk contest. Like, dunk contest was the main event. Now I'm like I don't know. I watch the three-point shootout and then I just turn it off. Nate Robinson: Because the stars that's supposed to do it don't do it. Like bro, like when I was coming up, LeBron James, you should have been in it. Bron should have been in it. LeBron should have done the dunk contest. Then more guys would have did it. All the stars before him all did it. Kobe, Vince, you had T-Mac, Jordan, Dr. J. Like, all these guys did the dunk contest before. And I don't understand why they wouldn't do it to pay homage to the league and the fans. Like, it's something that you should do. But guys do it no more. You we miss Ja Morant with some of the craziest bounce we ever seen a guard have. He didn't do it. You had Zion Williamson that didn't do it.
What are your thoughts on the state of the dunk contest? Nate Robinson: Man, I watched that after a while and I'm just I'm just sad on where it's going. For one, them letting certain guys do the dunk contest that wasn't even really in the league. That kind of bothered me a little bit, kind of in the beginning when they were doing it and after a while I was like, y'all let him do it multiple times so might as well just let them keep doing it. But just the whole, I mean what more can guys do in a dunk contest? Like everything's been done unless somebody does a flip or something. Like there's nothing that everybody's done everything now. Like what can the dunk contest do and what can they do in the dunk contest to make it seem like something that nobody's ever seen? That's going to be tough to do. You can't get the crowd's attention and the stars to come out and really be excited about anything because everything's been done. You got to switch it up. They got to go to one-on-one or something. Something different.
All right, we will get to those renovations, but I want to talk about All-Star Weekend. It’s no secret that we want it, Adam. We want it here in Portland. So, what goes into making that decision in terms of what city does get it? Adam Silver: Well, first of all, the city has to apply for it. Assuming that Tom Dundon becomes the new governor, majority team owner of the team, he’s a very ambitious guy. I’m sure he would love to bring an All-Star here. Part of it, obviously, is that we need a state-of-the-art arena, and that’s something we’re very focused on now. The other thing is that the event keeps growing, and the biggest issue becomes the availability of hotel rooms. I haven’t looked into it lately because the team isn’t focused on that right now, but we want to get everywhere in the league that we can. We just have to make sure there are enough rooms, because we bring thousands of people to the market. All-Star Weekend has become All-Star Week. There are events throughout, and even beyond the ticketed events, there are literally hundreds of receptions and parties. I’m sure if we were here, Nike would have enormous events. So, we would love to come here for All-Star. We just have to get into the dates and some of the logistical issues.
Orange County commissioners pledged to spend $35 million in public money to help Orlando host a future NBA All Star Week and the Olympic qualifying competitions in 2028 — if the Greater Orlando Sports Commission’s bids win hosting rights. Commissioners, some recalling the positive impression of the NBA’s 2012 All-Star Game in City Beautiful, expressed excitement about the possibility of having a longer hoops festival, before voting unanimously to approve both conditional funding requests from their tourist-tax fund.
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Orange County leaders with the Tourist Development Council voted unanimously to recommend $35 million in tourist tax dollars to secure funding to bid for the 2029-2030 NBA All-Star Week and 2028 Olympic qualifiers host city. Of that $35 million in tourist development tax dollars, $20 million would go toward funding either the 2029 or 2030 NBA All-Star Week, which the Greater Orlando Sports Commission is spearheading. Up to $500,000 in TDT will go towards bidding for those events.
The Kia Center, Orange County Convention Center, Dr. Phillips Center of the Performing Arts, and Addition Financial Arena at UCF are the venues being looked at to host events during All-Star Week. The dates targeted in the bid are from Feb.13-18, 2029; Feb. 5-10, 2030; Feb. 12-17, 2030. The city of Orlando last hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 2012 and 1992.
Front Office Sports: NEW: Years ago, Mark Cuban made the same prize money offer that Mat Ishbia did to lure stars to the NBA's dunk and three-point contests. David Stern had told him it would be "tampering," Cuban tells FOS.
Draymond Green: I saw a lot of people be like this person didn’t play, that person didn’t play. And I’m like Yo, Steph Curry didn’t play. What we talking about? We saw what Steph Curry do on a stage vs the World. We know what that looks like, we seen that movie before. Oh man this person didn’t play that person. But Steph Curry didn’t play. What are we talking about? ENOUGH SAID
What was your reaction that you weren’t selected in the 3-point contest, considering your strong numbers? Max Christie: “It is what it is. The biggest thing for me is that hopefully, I have plenty more opportunities. This isn’t a live or die by this All-Star year. Hopefully, I have many more years in this league and many more opportunities to be in the competition like that.”
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Spike Lee: Much Respect To Deni Avdija, The First Israeli-Born Player In The NBA All-Star Game. Congratulations Also To All The Players And The NBA. There Has Been Some Conjecture About What I Wore To The Games on Saturday and Sunday. The Clothes I Wore are Symbols of My Concern For The Palestinian Children and Civilians, And My Utmost Belief In Human Dignity For All Humankind. What I Wore Was Not Intended As A Gesture Of Hostility To Jewish People Or To Support Violence Against Anyone, Nor Was It Intended As A Comment On The Significance Of Deni Being An All-Star. There Were 28 NBA Players Chosen To Be In LA This Weekend. I Didn’t Know Them All And Deni Playing For The Portland Trailblazers, A West Coast Team, I Didn’t Know Deni As The First Israeli Born NBA All-Star. He can BALL. NOW I DO KNOW. LIVE AND LEARN. ONWARD AND UPWARD PEACE AND LOVE YA-DIG? SHO-NUFF SPIKE LEE
After tweaks to the All-Star Game helped result in the event’s highest viewership in 15 years, the NBA and media-rights partner NBC are now turning their attention toward All-Star Saturday. NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood told Front Office Sports that the network is already making pitches to improve the Saturday festivities, which suffered from yet another lackluster Slam Dunk Contest after the 3-Point Contest and Shooting Stars competition. Potential options include the addition of a fourth event, such as a 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 tournament. “On the NBC side, we’re thinking if there’s another element that could be added that would make Saturday even more of a showcase for the players,” Flood told FOS.
The NBA’s first USA vs. the World format divided All-Stars into three squads competing via a round-robin tournament: Team USA Stars, Team USA Stripes, and Team World. Coverage of the league’s 75th annual All-Star Game averaged 8.8 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo, peaking at 9.8 million viewers. That was up 87% from 4.7 million for last year’s telecast on TNT Sports, which ranked as the second lowest in the NBA’s All-Star Game history.
Kyrie Irving: Some of the questions they were asking were just ass. It was just like, and this is real life. I wake up every day purposely driven to be a principled man, a moral man, a fact-based man. But when I play my sport, I want to have fun. I want to compete. And I want to play at a high level. But we don't even ask real questions during All-Star weekend. No real questions that happen. No real questions. And anytime somebody asks a real question, it's like, oh, it's like a lob for something else for a brand setup or anything, you know? And y'all know the real questions I'm talking about. Y'all know the real questions I'm talking about. I don't talk about anything that's really going on. Y'all know what I'm talking about. Y'all know what I'm talking about, too. We don't have to go into detail about it. I'm not going to go and share it, but y'all know what I'm talking about. I'm good. All I'm saying is that they go there ask the same questions, bro. Same question. That's the same responses.