Getty Giannis Antetokounmpo guarding LeBron James.
The NBA is planning to have an All-Star game this season but there’s starting to be a lot of pushback from the league’s top players. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James probably has more pull than any other player and h recently made it clear that he thinks it’s a bad idea to play the game.
“I have zero energy and zero excitement about an All-Star Game this year,” LeBron said last week. “I don’t even understand why we’re having an All-Star Game.”
When LeBron talks, the NBA typically listens. Now that he’s come out against having an All-Star game, more stars have voiced their concerns. Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo agreed with LeBron.
“We all gotta follow the Big Dog, man,” Giannis said of LeBron’s comments, via Eric Woodyard.
The back-to-back MVP offered some more thoughts.
“At the end of the day, if we have the All-Star Game, I hope the fans can be there,” Giannis said. “And, we can give back to them, but at the end of the day if we have the All-Star Game just to have an All-Star Game and don’t have no fans, I don’t see the point.”
Regardless of how players feel, the NBA and NBAPA will likely do what they think is best for the league as a whole.
Giannis agrees with LeBron James when it comes to this year’s All-Star Game
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Chris Paul Offers Thoughts on Situation
Even in a pandemic year, the All-Star game has a chance to be a big moneymaker for the NBA. With stadiums mostly empty across the league, there’s no doubt that teams are taking a big hit. NBAPA president Chris Paul gave his thoughts on the potential All-Star game.
“There’s different situations, guys who’ve been playing a lot of games who haven’t really had much of a break,” Paul said, via Duane Rankin. “I’m sure I’m not the only guy in the league that lives without their family, and so guys look at that break as an opportunity to see their families. It’s a lot of different things going on right now, but you just hope that guys understand that decisions that are being made — especially as far as the union — has always got the full body of players in mind.”
The entire past year for the NBA has been far from ideal. It’s easy to see why players wouldn’t want to play in an All-Star game that doesn’t really matter. However, the NBA needs to recoup a lot of money so they’re going to push for what’s best for the league.
Lakers Likely to Have 2 All-Stars
Based on how All-Star voting has gone, LeBron and Anthony Davis are almost guaranteed to get elected to play in the game. That’s no surprise as both men are perennial All-Stars. That said, if the game does end up getting played, LeBron and Davis could have a tough decision on their hands.
Nobody would force them to play in the game. It would be easy for them to just sit out and take the extra time off but that’s not really how LeBron rolls. If he’s able to play, he’s probably going to. Davis has been banged up to start the season so it would be easy for him to make the call to sit out. It’s hard to see both LeBron and Davis skipping the All-Star game.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo on LeBron James: ‘We All Gotta Follow the Big Dog’