Another NBA All-Star weekend means another year for everybody to try to figure out how to fix the All-Star Game. One of Adam Silver's biggest rivals is injecting some competitive juice into the glorified exhibit that features the league's best players.
This year, Silver has gone with a complicated three-team round-robin tournament. There are three All-Star teams — two Team USA's and one Team World. The calculus format has caused some weird NBA All-Star replacements as guys from the West replaced guys from the East and vice versa.
The NBA has spent years adding excitement to the All-Star Game. It's mosly went in vain. Really difficult to ask All-Star players to go all out during their lone vacation of a grueling six-month regular-season marathon. Especially without financial incentive.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will only have one representative in Chet Holmgren. He was named a first-time NBA All-Star. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been sidelined with an abdominal strain.
In an exclusive interview with Thunder Wire via his Degree Clinical sponsorship, Holmgren talked about the NBA All-Star Game format and his overall thoughts on Silver's ambitions to make it a competitive game once again. The 23-year-old couldn't brainstorm any innovative ideas as he enjoys the first-time experience.
"I think it is a difficult question. I don’t think there is one single answer for how to do what the league is trying to do," Holmgren said. "This being my first year, I am looking to really make the most of it and enjoy the moment. I don’t want to set too many expectations beforehand on how this has to be done. I want to be in the moment and make the most of it."
Guess that's fair to say. Honestly, the NBA All-Star Game is one of the more artificial problems the league has tackled. Don't think anybody really cares if guys go all out. And if anything, they're hurting the appeal by making it overly complex for the average sports fan who only tunes in because nothing else is on.
The Thunder have sat atop the NBA standings all year. Although they've limped their way into the All-Star break, you hope reinforcements arrive for the final one-third of the regular season and beyond. Holmgren has enjoyed a career campaign with a solid chance to bring home a Defensive Player of the Year award.
"I feel like every kid growing up dreams of playing in that game. The things you remember, at least for me personally, are one, the highlights; two, the jerseys; three, the special shoe colorways and from there it’s kinda like the nostalgia of it, I guess," Holmgren said. "For me, that’s what it was. I never had the opportunity growing up to attend as a kid, but from being able to watch on TV, the production around it, that’s what I remember.”
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Exclusive: How would Chet Holmgren fix NBA All-Star Game format?