Sanity has returned to the NBA All-Star Game, or so one would hope.

We know the rosters several days before the game is played. That is something that has not happened since 2017, when the format was changed to having the captains draft players one at a time just prior to tipoff.

It was a change that was instituted by Adam Silver, who wanted to put his imprint on the NBA’s showcase event and changed a format that had been working just fine since the first All-Star game was held in Boston in 1951.

Silver also instituted the Elam ending, in which a designated point total was established following the end of the third quarter, and the first team to reach that number was the winner. There was no public outcry for those particular changes to be made seven years ago, but Silver runs a tight ship at NBA headquarters. Those who want to continue working there have to pick their battles, and many of those who have done battle with the big boss have found themselves looking for work elsewhere.

So, those changes that came about in 2017 stuck around longer than they were needed. This year in Indianapolis the clock will read 12:00 at the start of the fourth quarter, and the game will go to overtime if necessary. If it does, it will be the first All-Star game to go to an extra period since 2003, when Kevin Garnett was the MVP of a double-overtime game in Atlanta in which the teams combined for exactly 300 points.

Last year, Jayson Tatum scored an All-Star record 55 points as the teams combined for 359 points. This year, with a full 48-minute game to be played, it would not be surprising to see the teams exceed 400 combined points, which would make it the highest-scoring All-Star game ever.

Silver is at a crucial juncture in his reign as commissioner, with LeBron James nearing retirement with no high-profile American-born player poised to take his place as the face of the league. Currently, the top three scorers are from Slovenia (Luka Doncic), Canada (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) and Greece (Giannis Antetokounmpo).

Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum and Anthony Edwards are among the top young American players, but none has the charisma or positive public persona that we see from the likes of James and Steph Curry. NBA fans not only like to watch their favorite players, they like to listen to what they have to say. As of February, 2024, there is nobody poised to become the face and voice of American NBA players the way James, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell have done in the past.

All-Star games present opportunities for the NBA’s superstars to build their profile, but there is a hesitancy leaguewide to be too outspoken or too personable. To that point, what is the most memorable thing from last year’s All-Star weekend? It was probably G-Leaguer Mac McClung winning the dunk contest.

This year, let’s hope somebody does something spectacular, plays to the crowd and has something interesting to say about it afterward. The NBA needs the boost in a season that has been most noteworthy for injury issues, bad referee calls and a lack of national coverage for many of the small market teams (Minnesota, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Orlando) who have been exceeding expectations.

A 400-point All-Star game might get folks to start saying “I Love This Game” once again.

What is the highest-scoring NBA All-Star game?

At the 2017 game in New Orleans, the West defeated the East 192-182 as Anthony Davis scored a then-record 52 points. That was the last East-West game before the format was switched to Captain’s Picks, which brought six Team LeBrons, three Team Giannis, two Team Durants and one Team Steph.

The 10 Highest NBA All-Star Games of all time

  1. 1984 East defeated West 154-145 (OT) in Denver, 299 points.

Isiah Thomas won the MVP award in this game, which went to an overtime period in which the East outscored the West 22-13. This All-Star Weekend was also notable for Larry Nance winning the first slam dunk contest since 1976, and for the return of a Legends Game after a 20-year absence. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the senior statesman, making his 14th appearance. The Pistons and Celtics each had three players on the East team.

  1. 2003 West defeated East 155-145 (2OT) in Atlanta, 300 points.

This was the first All-Star Game to appear on a cable television channel, TNT, and it marked Michael Jordan’s final appearance. It was the most recent NBA All-Star Game to be decided in overtime, as well as the first (and so far only) to be decided in double-overtime. Yao Ming was the first rookie starter since Grant Hill in 1995, and he received more than a quarter million more votes than Shaquille O’Neal despite him winning the three most recent NBA Finals MVP awards. The vote prompted the NBA to reconsider the balloting process because fans in China overwhelmingly impacted the voting for the starters.

  1. 1987 West defeated East 154-149 (OT) in Seattle, 303 points.

This game was played at the since-demolished Kingdome in Seattle, and Tom Chambers of the SuperSonics was the MVP despite being one of just two first-time All-Stars, the other of which was Charles Barkley. Michael Jordan made his third All-Star appearance and was the top vote-getter, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made his 17th appearance. Chambers was an injury replacement for Ralph Sampson, and coach Pat Riley made him a starter, endearing himself to people in Seattle.

  1. 2014 East defeated West 163-155 in New Orleans, 318 points.

LeBron James was the leading vote-getter with nearly 1.5 million votes, and Steph Curry was voted in as a starter for the first time. James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh represented the Miami Heat. Kevin Love of Minnesota was voted in as a starter ahead of Dwight Howard, who was near the peak of his career with Houston. Damian Lillard and Anthony Davis both made the All-Star game for the first time, with Davis as an injury replacement for Kobe Bryant, who was replaced in the starting lineup by James Harden.

  1. 2021 Team LeBron defeated Team Durant 170-150 in Atlanta, 320 points.

This game was moved from Indianapolis due to scheduling conflicts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with Indy’s arenas booked for rescheduled NCAA games (the 2024 game was awarded to Indianapolis as a result). COVID protocols were huge. Players were required to use private transport provided by the league. All NBA players were subject to daily testing during the All-Star break, even if they were not participating in the game, and they were prohibited from travelling internationally or using public accommodations if they did travel out of their home market. For the first week after the break, all players were subject to game day testing protocols (one rapid test and two PCR tests) daily, even if they were not scheduled to play that day. The All-Star Game was closed to the public, and there were no other official festivities tied to the game.

  1. 2015 West defeated East 163-158 in New York, 321 points.

This game was co-hosted by the Nets and the Knicks, with the All-Star Saturday events held in Brooklyn and the All-Star game played in Manhattan. Kobe Bryant was selected for a record 17th consecutive time, and Steph Curry was the top vote-getter. The Atlanta Hawks had four All-Stars, and the Gasol brothers, Pau and Marc, started for their respective conferences. It was the first time two brothers competed in the game since Tom and Dick Van Arsdale played in the 1971 game. Westbrook scored 27 points in just 11 first-half minutes.

  1. 2022 Team LeBron defeated Team Durant 163-160 in Cleveland, 323 points.

Curry set the record for most three-pointers made in an All-Star quarter (7), half (8), and game (16) as Team LeBron won for the fifth consecutive year. Voting was allowed on the NBAApp, and the formula was changed: Fans made up 50 percent of the vote, and NBA players and media each comprised 25 percent of the vote. Ja Morant of Memphis and Andrew Wiggins of Golden State were voted in as starters in their first All-Star appearance each. Other first-time All-Stars were Dejounte Murray, LaMelo Ball, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Fred VanVleet. The “target score” was 163 points – the league paid tribute to Kobe Bryant by making the winning point total 24 points scored in the final quarter – and James hit a turnaround jumper to hit that number, 163.

  1. 2019 Team LeBron defeated Team Giannis 178-164 in Charlotte, 342 points.

The NBA partnered with Google and Twitter counting #nbavote hashtags as fan votes, and Kemba Walker of the host Hornets was among the East starters. Nikola Jokic, Ben Simmons, Khris Middleton and D’Angelo Russell were all first-time All-Stars, and Silver added Nowitzki and Wade as a tribute to their long careers, as both were finishing their playing days, making it the first time each team had 13 players. After the draft was held pre-game, James traded Russell Westbrook to Team Giannis for Ben Simmons. Jayson Tatum made it to All-Star weekend for the first time, representing Team USA against Team World in the Rising Stars challenge.

  1. 2016 West defeated East 196-173 in Toronto, 369 points.

This was the first time the All-Star game was played outside of the United States, and it was Kobe Bryant’s 18th and final appearance. Temperatures in Toronto were in the single digits, and participants spent the weekend navigating downtown Toronto’s heated underground corridors to get from place to place. Tyronn Lue of Cleveland coached the East despite having only four games under his belt as he was a midseason replacement for the fired David Blatt – similar to what we are seeing with Doc Rivers of the Bucks being named East coach this year after he replaced the fired Adrian Griffin. Kawhi Leonard of the Spurs was voted in as a starter in his first All-Star appearance, a precursor to him having the biggest accomplishment of his career in Toronto when he led the Raptors to the NBA championship. The 369 total points in the game broke the previous year's record by 48, and both sides exceeded the prior team record of 163

  1. 2017 West defeated East 192-182 in New Orleans, 374 points.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was voted in as a starter in his first All-Star appearance for a game that was relocated from Charlotte because of a controversy involving an anti-LBGT ordinance in North Carolina, marking the first time a game had been moved because of what was viewed by many as a discriminatory law. This was one of the events in which the NBA was at the intersection of politics mixing with sports, which alienated some fans who wanted sports to be a diversion from politics. The race to Wilt’s record was actually a two-man contest with Westbrook and Davis, and the West teammates took turns delivering dunks (Davis) and 3-pointers (Westbrook). With both players sitting at 41 and 40 points respectively, the conspiracy began: West coach Steve Kerr cooled off Westbrook permanently by sitting him with five minutes left, while keeping Davis in the game. (Westbrook had won the previous two All-Star MVPs.) It was Davis’ turn, and his teammates made sure by force-feeding him the ball for easy buckets.

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