20 Second Timeout is the place to find the best analysis and commentary about the NBA.
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Bam Adebayo's Scoring Outburst Highlights Why Tanking is Terrible
On April 9, 2023, I declared, "The toxic combination of tanking and load management cheats the fans who
buy tickets to see their favorite players, compromises the integrity of
playoff seeding, devalues individual and team statistics, and creates a
host of issues regarding legalized wagering" (emphasis added).
There are many examples of inflated/devalued statistics, but the tragicomical farce perpetrated by the Miami Heat--and their partners in crime, the perpetually tanking Washington "Wheeze-hards"--tonight is Exhibit A: Bam Adebayo scored 83 points on 20-43 field goal shooting and 36-43 free throw shooting as Adebayo's Heat won, 150-129. Adebayo made just seven of the 22 three pointers that he jacked up, and he scored six points--all on free throws--in the final two minutes with the Heat leading by 25 or more points. Officially, Adebayo now owns the second highest single game scoring output in NBA history, surpassing Kobe Bryant (81 points) and trailing only Wilt Chamberain's legendary 100 point game. Unofficially, this travesty--this "traveshammockery" (travesty, sham, and mockery)--should have a giant asterisk next to it, and that asterisk should include a picture of Adam Silver's face wearing clown makeup.
The "Wheeze-hards" gave up 40 first quarter points on .542 field goal shooting, with Adebayo scoring 31 points on 10-16 field goal shooting; their only goal is to lose, and they achieved that goal in a spectacularly disgraceful manner. Perhaps the Wizards assumed that the Heat would call off the dogs once the outcome was no longer in doubt, but by that point Adebayo was so close to surpassing Bryant that the Heat began force-feeding him the ball. Even tanking teams apparently have some standards, so the "Wheeze-hards" began focusing all of their meager efforts on not letting Adebayo score, and then the Heat began fouling to get the ball back and missing non-Adebayo free throws on purpose to generate more shot attempts for Adebayo.
The "Wheeze-hards" have been tanking for several years and have made the playoffs just once since 2018 (2021, when Russell Westbrook averaged a triple double for the fourth time in his extraordinary and often underrated career. Adam Silver should relegate the "Wheeze-hards" and other tanking teams to the G League and should forbid the tankers from receiving the national TV revenue that teams share. I know that he will not do that--for a variety of reasons--but drastic measures must be taken to prevent the NBA from degenerating into a complete farce.
How absurd is it that Adebayo scored 83 points in an NBA regular season game? Adebayo's
previous career high was 41 points in a 128-124 Heat loss versus
the Brooklyn Nets on January 23, 2021; that was one of just four times
that he scored at least 35 points in a game in the first 624 regular
season games of his NBA career.
Regular season NBA games are starting to resemble the NBA All-Star
Game in terms of lack of defense/lack of competitive effort, and last
year's NBA All-Star Game may have been the worst basketball game ever.
Prior to Monday, there had been one day in ABA/NBA history during which
two players had 60 point games--and now that has happened twice in five
days. Pointing out such facts is not "hating." The NBA powers that be
have drastically altered the game, and not for the better: instead of
featuring the best athletes in the world competing at the highest level,
the NBA has degenerated into a glorified skills exhibition. I have
attended dozens if not hundreds of NBA games in person as a credentialed
media member or as a fan, and I have seen firsthand that even "non
shooters" in the NBA can shoot an absurd percentage on uncontested
warmup shots; this helped me to understand how great NBA defense is (or
was). With all due respect to Doncic, in his 73 point game he shot .850
from the field on shots that were not much more difficult than warmup
shots.
The modern NBA has lowered the bar competitively, which devalues each game and cheapens the record book.
The rules changes and style of play changes from the past 20 years
suggest that the NBA decided that fans have such short attention spans
and so little appreciation for the nuances of the game that the only way
to keep them interested is to transmogrify the sport from a game of
ball movement and player movement featuring diverse offensive strategies
into a one dimensional game during which teams jack up as many three
pointers as possible; three point field goal percentages have not
improved in the past 20 years, but the volume of three point shooting
has more than doubled. "Stat gurus" may
believe that high volume three point shooting is inherently efficient,
but shooting twice as many treys at less than a .360 clip while
eschewing midrange shots and shots in the paint does not add up to
efficient basketball, nor does it create aesthetically pleasing
basketball.
At its best, basketball is an all-around game featuring skillful offense balanced by shrewd, physical defense. The step back move as
utilized by Adrian Dantley, Larry Bird, and Dell Curry was a thing a of
beauty. I used to practice it in my driveway while being careful to not
take an extra step. In contrast to that technical artistry, what is
called a step back move today is a travel and/or an offensive foul if
basketball's rules were enforced as written. Commentators and fans scoff
that old school players "had no bag" (did not have a bag of fancy ball
handling moves), but the reality is that what is called a "bag" today
includes traveling, carrying, palming, and flopping and flailing
to bait referees into calling fouls against defensive players. No
player epitomizes the NBA's emphasis on elevating offense over defense
more than James Harden, who literally "traveled" through the NBA's record book thanks to the generous whistle that he received during his prime years.
Bryant
scored 81 points in a game and averaged 35.4 ppg at a time when most
NBA teams struggled to score 100 points per game; it is easy to picture
prime Bryant averaging at least 40 ppg in today's NBA, and the same
should be said of Michael Jordan. Julius
Erving's hands are so big that when he played he could catch a
basketball with one hand and go up for a shot without touching the ball
with his other hand; it is tantalizing to dream about the wonders that Erving would perform in today's game
when defensive physicality on the perimeter has been eliminated while
offensive players are permitted to do just about anything with the ball
short of running from one end of the court to the other with no
dribbles. Erving shot .343 from three point range in his final three ABA
seasons, so it is easy to picture Erving becoming a successful, high
volume three point shooter if that had been a point of emphasis during
his career--and that would have made him impossible to guard in today's
NBA, leaving defenders with the unenviable choice of watching him bury
three pointers or watching him fly to the hoop to dunk without facing
rim protectors.
I often think about Erving, and I lament how much the game has deteriorated since the era when he ruled the court (and the airspace above the court). Erving shares the ABA playoff single game scoring record (53 points) with Roger Brown, and Erving scored a career-high 63 points in a four overtime loss in 1975, but his NBA single game career high was a relatively modest 45 points. He could have scored a lot more points, but Erving did not chase personal glory or individual statistical achievements. I asked Erving about that, and he replied, "Putting your second team in when you're up a lot of points is really
what you should do. I mean, those guys want to play, too. To just run it
up to 125 so the crowd can get hamburgers or whatever, that’s not
good," and then he added, "Yeah, putting a guy back in the game so he can get an assist for a triple double or whatever, that’s crass. It's just crass."
"Crass" is the perfect description for Bam Adebayo jacking up 22 three pointers and scoring 83 points in a 21 point blowout win versus the tanking "Wheeze-hards."
Russell Westbrook Exposes the Low Barriers to Entry for Media Members
If you believe the headlines--and I would caution against believing any headline from any source--Russell Westbrook "goes off," "blasts" the media in an "agitated" way, makes "fiery" comments, and "fires back" at media members. After Westbrook's Sacramento Kings lost 133-123 to the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night, Westbrook spoke to the assembled media for a little more than six minutes. You can judge for yourself the tone and tenor of Westbrook's comments by watching this video (and if the video does not play on your device or if the video is subsequently taken down, you can find another
link to the video without much difficulty):
Note that Westbrook did not raise his voice, did not use profanity, and did not personally insult anyone. He asserted that media members who cover the Kings make unfounded statements about him, his teammates, and his team without proper "context," and he challenged specific media members to repeat those unfounded statements to his face. One of the media members singled out by Westbrook is Matt George, who does a Kings podcast. George declined to address Westbrook's concerns at the press conference, and then after the press conference he did a podcast about the situation followed by making the rounds at various media outlets to defend himself and repeat his hope that Westbrook is not on the team next season. There are many words to describe a man who declines to address another man face to face only to speak about him behind his back, but I'll stick with a family-friendly word: coward.
It is not Westbrook's fault that the Kings are having a horrible season. He is playing hard, and he is playing well. The Kings have been a dysfunctional organization for quite some time.
Mike Brown won the Coach of the Year award in 2023, and then the Kings fired him in 2024 to
hire Doug Christie, who had no prior head coaching experience at any
level and who is coaching the Kings about as well as one would expect
from someone who has no prior head coaching experience.
Westbrook is an all-time great being covered by hacks who accuse him of padding his stats by "stealing" rebounds, a false notion that is unsupported by the numbers. Justin Termine admits that he is "an entertainer, not a journalist,"
and after listening to him I agree that he is not a journalist but I question how entertaining he is. Termine recently asserted that
Westbrook has spent his career accumulating individual statistics that
do not correlate with team success. Termine calls himself a basketball
historian, but he apparently does not realize how rare it is for a team to reach the Western Conference Finals four times,
as the Oklahoma City Thunder did (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016) with Kevin
Durant and Westbrook leading the way. Westbrook was an All-NBA Team
member in three of those four seasons, and would have made it in all
four had he not been limited to 46 games in the 2014 season (he averaged
26.7 ppg, 8.1 apg, and 7.3 rpg during that playoff run to reaffirm his
All-NBA status).
A major cause of the low quality of media coverage is the low barrier to entry for the profession, a topic that I have mentioned before but is worth discussing in greater depth. I speak from personal experience because I spent seven years as a credentialed reporter in NBA media rooms, so I
saw firsthand how news is gathered, how narratives are manufactured, and
how often incompetent media members ask ridiculous questions. Before I became a credentialed reporter, I devoted myself to learning the NBA game, learning pro basketball history, and honing my writing skills, but I found out--to my horror--that obtaining credentials and getting writing assignments has much less to do with what you know than who you know. This is in marked contrasted to other professions and endeavors. For example, in the 1990s, I was an ACE-certified personal trainer, in 1995 I earned the U.S. Chess Federation's Expert title, and in 2016 I became an actively licensed attorney.
To become a certified personal trainer, you must pass a certification exam.
To become a chess Expert (top 3% of all chess players in the United States), it is necessary to earn 2000 rating points in officially sanctioned tournaments.
To become an actively licensed attorney, you must score high enough on the LSAT to be admitted to law school, you must graduate law school, and you must pass the bar exam. To maintain actively licensed status, you must earn continuing education credits.
You cannot become a certified personal trainer, a chess Expert, or an
attorney based on your connections; to achieve each of those status
levels, you must meet objective standards.
In contrast, anyone who knows the right person can show up at a sports event as a credentialed reporter. There is no education requirement and no competency requirement. Reread those two sentences, and then you will understand why the quality of media coverage is generally low--and I am not just speaking about NBA media coverage: the Wall Street Journal's chess coverage is embarrassingly bad, the general coverage of the World Chess Championship is pathetic, and political coverage is riddled with agenda-driven bias and misinformation.
The media members who hate Westbrook and slander Westbrook do so not only because they are incompetent but because they are outraged that he is not afraid to expose them as unqualified hacks. Westbrook is not feuding with Hubie Brown or Tim Legler or Doris Burke or any competent NBA commentator; he is feuding with people who are unqualified to do their jobs. There is a major
difference between objectively being one of the greatest basketball
players of all-time versus having a media platform because you know a
guy who knows a guy; deep down, these media members know their real
value and their real level, and they resent being reminded of those
truths.
Russell Westbrook is a real man who works hard every day without making excuses. He is loyal to his team and to his teammates, even when that loyalty is not returned. He is not afraid to call out anyone's nonsense. There is a cliche suggesting that one should never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel (or, in today's parlance, have unlimited access to multimedia platforms)--but Westbrook does not think about his protecting his image or trying to be popular: he protects his teammates, and he challenges media members who ask dumb questions and who make unfounded assertions.
Westbrook deserves better media coverage than he receives--and, as the listening and viewing public, we deserve better media coverage than the slop that is provided to us.
NBC's NBA "Throwback Tuesday" Hit All the Right Notes
NBC's "Throwback Tuesday" doubleheader telecast took viewers on a sentimental journey complete with the old NBA on NBC graphics and music. I grew up with the NBA on CBS in the 1970s and 1980s, but the NBA's run on NBC from 1990-2002 was very memorable both for the quality of play and the quality of the broadcasts. During those dozen seasons, the Michael Jordan-Scottie PippenChicago Bulls bagged a pair of three-peats (1991-93, 1996-98) bracketed around the Houston Rockets' back to back championships. Then, the San Antonio Spurs ushered in the Tim Duncan era by winning the 1999 NBA title in the wake of Michael Jordan's (second) retirement and a lockout that shortened the regular season to 50 games. Phil Jackson came out of a short-lived retirement from the Chicago Bulls to coach the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant L.A. Lakers to three straight titles (2000-02). During that era, NBC also covered the exploits of the 1992 Dream Team in the Barcelona Olympics, an epic event that inspired many of the international players who have dominated the NBA in recent seasons.
Thus, the NBA on NBC covered one of the most consequential eras in NBA history, a period that featured three three-peats, Houston's repeat, the first of Tim Duncan's five NBA titles, and the debut of NBA players performing for Team USA in the Olympics, which planted the seeds for the emergence of European stars such as Dirk Nowitzki, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Luka Doncic.
Hannah Storm, Isiah Thomas, and P.J. Carlesimo hosted the "Throwback Tuesday" pregame show, fittingly called "NBA Showtime" in a nod to the NBA on NBC's original pregame show. Throughout the night, Storm, Bob Costas, and others made a point of acknowledging key members of the NBA on NBC family who have passed away or were not able to join "Throwback Tuesday" for other reasons, including Bill Walton (passed away in 2024), Steve "Snapper" Jones (passed away in 2017), Dick Enberg (passed away in 2017), Marv Albert, Ahmad Rashad, Julius Erving, and Matt Guokas. I did not hear Peter Vecsey's name mentioned; he has always been a divisive figure so perhaps his omission is not surprising--but the "Viper" was a memorable participant in the old NBA on NBC broadcasts.
The first game of the doubleheader was a dud on the scoreboard as the San Antonio Spurs routed the Philadelphia 76ers 131-91, but the telecast provided a great opportunity for Bob Costas, Doug Collins, Mike "Czar of the Telestrator" Fratello, and sideline reporter Jim Gray to reminisce not just about their shared time at NBC but their careers in general.
Costas mentioned the numerous great 76ers who started their careers in the ABA--including George McGinnis, Julius Erving, Bobby Jones, and Moses Malone--and he gave a plug to the recently released ABA-themed documentary "Soul Power." Costas began his broadcasting career as the play by play announcer for the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis, and he proudly calls himself an "ABA guy." His historical knowledge and his reverence for sports history add much value to every broadcast that he does.
Collins recalled scheming with his teammate Julius Erving to miss a free throw on purpose in a late game situation so that Erving could slam home the game-winning putback. It was very meaningful to Collins to return to Philadelphia, where his NBA playing career began and where he served as the team's coach from 2010-13.
Fratello talked about broadcasting games with play by play partner Marv Albert, who for decades was the witty, wry, and knowledgeable voice of the NBA. When Albert called a national game, his presence made it seem like a big event.
As the Spurs put the game out of reach, Costas referenced Marv Albert's line about "extended garbage time," but Doug Collins gently countered by noting that Hubie Brown would get upset if NBA Draft
coverage returned to air late after a commercial and missed announcing a draft pick; that moment was special for one of the 60 best players in the world, Brown would lament. Collins' point was that "garbage time" may seem insignificant, but it is important to the players who get on the court after not getting much action for most of the season. Collins also said that Hubie Brown is the "gold standard" for NBA color commentators, and Collins mentioned that he learned a lot from Brown. Brown is the best, but Collins is one of a select few who rank right behind Brown.
While the 76ers absorbed a blowout loss--something that 76ers' fans have often suffered through during the seemingly endless "Process"--Collins noted that he was not coaching the 76ers when they started tanking 13 years ago. Fratello wisely pointed out that some teams tank and never get out of the tank--a sentiment that applies to the 76ers, who advanced to the second round in 2012 with Collins as their coach, and have not advanced past the second round since going into the tank in 2013. The 76ers have not "tanked to the top," nor has any other team; the 2025 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder obtained franchise player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander not by tanking but by shrewdly acquiring him via a trade with the L.A. Clippers--and in that same trade, the Thunder also acquired the draft pick that became Jalen Williams, their second best player. The Thunder then tanked to obtain more draft picks, but they acquired the two centerpieces of their championship team from one trade, not from tanking.
Near the end of the game, NBC ran a graphic comparing the NBA in 1990 with the NBA in 2026: in the 1990-91 season, NBA teams averaged 106.3 ppg and 7.1 three point field goal attempts per game, while in the 2025-26 season so far NBA teams are averaging 115.3 ppg and 37.0 three point field goal attempts per game. In 1990-91, the Denver Nuggets led the league with 12.9 three point field goal attempts per game, while in 2025-26 the Sacramento Kings rank last in the league with 30.1 three point field goal attempts per game. "Stat gurus" insist that NBA teams are optimizing possessions by jacking up so many three pointers, but there is no way to prove that to be true when every single team is jacking up three pointers; when every team jacks up dozens of three pointers per game then of course the championship team will be a team that jacks up dozens of three pointers per game--but high volume three point shooting is a high variance approach to the game, so it would be fascinating to see a team like the 1986-87 Showtime Lakers face any of the recent NBA championship teams. The 1987 Lakers averaged 117.8 ppg on .516 field goal shooting while attempting just 5.5 three point field goals per game. Would the Lakers' ability to relentlessly attack the paint wear down a modern team, or would a modern team's three point bombing shoot the Lakers out of the gym? I would pick the Lakers in such a matchup, and it would be fascinating if a modern NBA team had the courage to buck the trend of high volume three point shooting in favor of efficient shooting from all areas of the court.
Prior to the second game of the doubleheader, Isiah Thomas talked about the Spurs' sound organization (a marked contrast with how the 76ers have been run in recent years, though he did not say that), and he mentioned that when he visited Gregg Popovich he noticed that there was just one picture in the office: John Havlicek. Carlesimo said that he had not known in advance that Thomas would mention this, but that it brings to mind a story from when Carlesimo worked as an assistant coach for Popovich. Carlesimo recalled that Popovich was thrilled when Havlicek presented a trophy to the Spurs, and that is when Carlesimo learned that Havlicek was Popovich's favorite player. Carlesimo knew Havlicek, and he was able to arrange for Popovich to meet Havlicek.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Phoenix Suns defeated the Sacramento Kings, 114-103. The game telecast did not feature throwback broadcasters, but Grant Hill and Noah Eagle ably called the game while Storm, Carlesimo, and Thomas did the halftime show and the postgame show. During the game, NBC showed some highlights of Grant Hill playing for the Detroit Pistons in the 1990s when NBC broadcast his games--and then NBC showed a picture of Eagle as a child during the 1990s, reminding us how quickly time passes!
At the end of the telecast, Storm, Carlesimo, and Thomas talked frankly--and lovingly--about how much it meant to them to be back together on air again. As Thomas said, you never know when they will all be in the same place at the same time again, so this was a moment to cherish.
I have seen wry social media comments prior to last night's telecast making fun of the people who suggest that NBA basketball was better back in the day; such comments argue that it would be odd that basketball is the only sport where basic evolution has not happened. I won't comment about other sports in this article, but I strongly feel that the NBA game was better in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s than it is now, and after watching a retro telecast it is evident that NBA telecasts--from the studio shows to the game broadcasters to the graphics (which were clearer and more readable on the retro telecast than on modern telecasts)--were better back in the day, too. It was refreshing to watch an NBA doubleheader devoid of screaming, hot takes, and general foolishness--and it was wonderful to listen to broadcasters who know and respect the history of the game, in marked contrast to uninformed and ungrateful commentators who disrespect the players who laid the foundation for the modern NBA: J.J. Redick is making millions of dollars per year now not because he is so intrinsically special, but because Bob Cousy and the other great NBA players from the league's early years laid the foundation for what has become a multi-billion dollar business in which even average players and average coaches become millionaires. Billy Martin once said that George Steinbrenner was born on third base but thought he hit a triple, a sentiment that applies to Redick and many others who now benefit from the hard work (and superior talent) of those who came before them.
"Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association" Examines the ABA's Impact on Sports and Society
"Time has marched on, but the memories are forever."--Julius Erving speaking about the ABA
George Karl, Julius Erving, and Common are the executive producers for Amazon Prime's four part documentary "Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association."
Episode one begins with some quotes that place the ABA's significance in historical context. Gervin declared, "The ABA was the first integrated workplace in America." Bob Costas--who began his broadcasting career as a play by play announcer for the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis--noted, "A legend is something that has an element of mystery. The ABA may be the last significant legend in American sports." Erving said, "[There is a] responsibility for those who come to the other side of this to tell the story."
George Mikan, who was honored as the greatest basketball player of the first 50 years of the 20th century, served as the ABA's first commissioner, and he minced no words about the ABA being in a money war versus the NBA. Much of the narrative arc of episode one is framed around "ABA Attack," the league's plan to seize market share from the NBA to force a merger between the two leagues, much as the AFL rose to prominence a few years earlier and eventually forced a merger with the NFL. The first prong of the attack was "Steal a Star."
Rick Barry was the NBA's Rookie of the Year in 1965-66 after averaging 25.7 ppg and 10.6 rpg, and he won the NBA scoring title in 1966-67 (35.6 ppg) en route to leading the San Francisco Warriors to the NBA Finals, where they lost to a dominant Philadelphia team featuring Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker, and Billy Cunningham.
Barry jumped to the ABA after the 1966-67 season even though a court upheld the reserve clause in his contract with the Warriors, which meant that he would have to sit out the 1967-68 season before suiting up for the ABA's Oakland Oaks.
Barry scoffed at the notion that today's players are better than players from his era, noting that when he played he did not have access to strength coaches, agility coaches, or dieticians the way that modern players do. He said that one would have to "be on drugs or something" to not understand how much better players from his era would do in today's era than they did in their era when they had no access to modern sports science. Barry said that he was not arrogant, but that he was--and is--confident because confidence "is the key to great success."
With Barry ineligible for the 1967-68 ABA season, the ABA activated the second prong of its attack: "Welcome Castoffs."
Connie Hawkins was blackballed by the NBA after being falsely implicated for being associated with infamous college basketball fixer Jack Molinas. Hawkins played in the American Basketball League and then for the Harlem Globetrotters before the ABA welcomed him in the league's inaugural season. As I noted in my obituary for Hawkins, he "led the Pittsburgh Pipers to the 1968 ABA title, averaging 30.7 ppg in
seven games versus the New Orleans Buccaneers. Hawkins averaged 29.9
ppg, 12.3 rpg and 4.6 apg during the 1968 playoffs after averaging 26.8
ppg, 13.5 rpg and 4.6 apg during the regular season. Hawkins was the
league's top scorer during the regular season, playoffs and Finals." Hawkins soon settled his lawsuit versus the NBA, after which he signed with the Phoenix Suns and made the All-NBA First Team in 1970.
One of my few quibbles with "Soul Power" is that Roger Brown's story of exile and redemption was not told in parallel with Hawkins' story. Like Hawkins, Brown was blackballed by the NBA before being embraced by the ABA. Brown won the 1970 ABA Playoff MVP after leading the Indiana Pacers to the first of their record three ABA titles (1970, 1972-73), and he remained loyal to the Pacers even after the NBA lifted its ban against him. Brown is the quintessential ABA player: he was cast aside by the NBA, he played his entire pro career in the ABA, and his accomplishments were ignored for far too many years before he was finally inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. "Soul Power" included highlights of Brown's play and cameo appearances by his daughter and grandson, but did not explain that Brown had overcome significant obstacles just like Hawkins did. Erving was one of many Hall of Famers who spoke highly of Brown to me, so I am surprised that Brown's story was not done justice in "Soul Power." I understand that every documentary has space/time limitations that inevitably cause some good material to end up on the cutting room floor, but the story of the ABA cannot and should not be told without prominently mentioning Brown.
Barry had an immediate impact in his first ABA season, leading the league in scoring in 1968-69 (34.0 ppg), but he only appeared in 35 games due to injury. The Oaks won the 1969 ABA title thanks to the efforts of Warren Jabali, who earned the 1969 ABA Playoff MVP award after averaging 28.8 ppg, 12.9 rpg, and 2.9 apg as the Oaks went 12-4 during the postseason. Episode one devotes significant coverage to not only Jabali's basketball prowess but also his militant attitude (or what was perceived to be his militant attitude). Jabali passed away on July 13, 2012, so in death as in life he seems condemned to have other people speak for him and define him. I strongly encourage anyone interested in learning about Jabali to read my tribute to him, including a full-length interview from 2005.
The ABA suffered a setback when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) chose the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks over the ABA's New York Nets; he told each league to make their best offer, and the Bucks made the better offer. The ABA subsequently tried to offer more than the Bucks had offered, but Abdul-Jabbar kept his word to take the best first offer.
With Barry injured, Hawkins jumping to the NBA, and Abdul-Jabbar spurning the ABA for the NBA, the ABA desperately needed a flagship player. Episode two ("Growing Pains") begins by focusing on the third prong of the ABA's attack: "Draft Underclassmen." The NBA had a rule against signing any player before his college class graduated, but the ABA's Denver Rockets drafted and signed 20 year old Spencer Haywood in 1969 after he led Team USA to the 1968 Olympic gold medal and excelled as a sophomore for the University of Detroit in 1968-69 (32.1 ppg, 22.1 rpg). Haywood's family picked cotton in Mississippi, and the ABA created a "hardship" exception for drafting underclassmen.
Haywood authored one of the most dominant rookie seasons in pro basketball history, winning Rookie of the Year, All-Star Game MVP and regular season MVP
honors in 1969-70 after leading the ABA in scoring (30.0 ppg) and
rebounding (19.5 rpg). He joined Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld as the only players in pro basketball history to win Rookie of the Year and regular season MVP in the same season.
Haywood's contract with the Rockets proved to be worth far less than the advertised value of $1.9 million. After the team refused to make things right, Haywood jumped to the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics in 1970. Haywood's college class had not yet graduated, so rival NBA teams sought an injunction to prevent Haywood from playing in the NBA. This set off a legal battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Haywood won in court, and this changed the game forever on the court. "Hardship" is now called "early entry," as the modern NBA has done away with the pretense
that teenagers are only being drafted if they can prove that their
families are suffering financial hardship. Seven subsequent "early
entry" players became members of my basketball Pantheon: Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James.
With Connie Hawkins and Spencer Haywood both jumping to the NBA, the ABA desperately needed a new, young superstar. This led to the fourth prong of the ABA's attack: "Draft the Doctor Now."
Julius Erving (also known the Doctor or Dr. J) won three ABA regular season MVPs (1974-76), three ABA scoring titles (1973-74, 1976), and two ABA championships (1974, 1976) while establishing himself not only as the greatest player in ABA history but one of the greatest players in pro basketball history--but he did not look like a superstar as a high school player: Erving arrived at the University of Massachusetts in 1968 as a 6-3, 165 pound forward before growing three inches and gaining at least 30 pounds. Like many players who reached their final height later in life, Erving developed multi-positional skills: he could handle the ball and pass like a guard, but he could also rebound and play inside.
After the Supreme Court compelled the NBA to permit Spencer Haywood to play, the league still was not drafting underclassmen, so the ABA had an opportunity to swoop in and obtain the Doctor's services. The Virginia Squires signed Erving in April 1971, after he completed his junior year at UMass.
As a young player, Erving's most dominant skill was rebounding, and he already had an unselfish mindset well beyond his years: he had the ability to be a dominant scorer, but he was not obsessed with scoring. Charlie Scott was the Squires' primary scoring option during Erving's rookie season (1971-72), and it was obvious that Scott was chasing the scoring title, so Erving averaged 15.7 rpg (third in the league) while scoring 27.3 ppg as the second option. Scott jumped to the NBA's Phoenix Suns late in the season after he had clinched the scoring title (34.6 ppg, setting the ABA single season scoring record), and then Erving averaged 33.4 ppg in the final 10 games of the regular season, with three games of at least 40 points. In the playoffs, Erving averaged 33.3 ppg, 20.4 rpg, and 6.5 apg, one of the most dominant state lines ever posted by a rookie in postseason play.
In "Soul Power," Costas explained Erving's impact: "With all due respect to other great ABA players, Dr. J is what gave the league credibility outside league cities and outside the core of ABA fans because even the franchises that did consistently well operated outside the notice of most American sports fans. So, a lot of it took place, relatively speaking, in the shadows."
If there had been any doubt about the quality of the ABA initially, by 1971 it was clear to any objective observer that the ABA's best players could match up with the NBA's best players, as demonstrated in the two ABA-NBA Supergames played in 1971 and 1972. Although the NBA All-Stars won the first game 125-120 and the second game 106-104, it was eye-opening for the casual fan (and for the NBA itself) to see just how competitive the interleague matchups were.
After the NBA was forced to realize how good the ABA players were, the NBA began a counter-attack to the ABA's attack, and the first prong of that counter-attack was "Poach the Players." The NBA shifted from a haughty position of asserting that ABA players were not that good to an aggressive position of trying to sign ABA players to NBA deals.
Rick Barry and Julius Erving only faced each other once in a playoff series, and Barry's New York Nets prevailed 4-3 over Erving's Squires in the 1972 ABA Eastern Division Finals. The Nets faced the Indiana Pacers in the ABA Finals. Roger Brown outscored Rick Barry 32-23 in game six as the Pacers won the series, 4-2. Brown led the Pacers in playoff scoring (20.5 ppg) in 1972, but Freddie Lewis (19.2 ppg) was named the 1972 ABA Playoff MVP. "Soul Power" noted that the Pacers were not only successful on the court, but they proved to be a unifying force within an Indianapolis community that had previously been divided along racial lines. The Pacers' players comprised a close-knit group that remained close-knit decades after they retired. Larry Brown, who was a three-time ABA All-Star before becoming a Hall of Fame coach, said, "I wish our world was like the Pacers' locker room. It's all about can you play and are you a decent human being. Do you care about the people that sit next to on both sides. That's the only thing that matters."
Barry jumped back to the Warriors after the 1971-72 season, making it all the more imperative for the ABA to not lose Erving, which led to the second prong of the NBA's counter-attack: "Steal the Doctor."
Episode three ("Icarus") shines the spotlight on Erving, one of the greatest and yet most underrated players in pro basketball history. Five-time ABA All-Star Ralph Simpson made a bold statement early in the episode: "I don't never think there will be another Dr. J. I think there will be another Michael Jordan. Doc did things that were just incredible, that defied human nature." Simpson echoed what many players who played with and/or against Erving have told me: Erving, particularly when he showcased his full talents in the ABA, had something that no other player ever had. The respect, even awe, that fellow professional basketball players have for Erving is rare. I have spoken with many professional basketball players, and I cannot think of a player who is more revered by other players than Erving.
Larry Brown, who coached against Erving in the ABA and in the NBA, said, "When he went to the NBA, Julius was great. Everybody recognized him as being one of the great players ever. They didn't really see the true Julius when he was in the ABA."
After his sensational rookie season, Erving took a closer look at his Virginia contract and--much like Spencer Haywood did--realized that the deal was not quite as good as it had seemed at first. Erving and his representatives disputed the validity of the contract with the Squires, and Erving signed a contract with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks--but then the Milwaukee Bucks selected Erving (whose college class had now graduated) with the 12th pick in the 1972 NBA Draft. Erving joined forces with Pistol Pete Maravich in some preseason games with the Hawks before a three judge panel ordered Erving to return to the Squires. Erving had a sensational second season with the Squires, averaging a career-high 31.9 ppg to win the first of his three scoring titles. After the 1972-73 season, the cash-strapped Squires traded Erving and Willie Sojourner to the New York Nets for George Carter, Kermit Washington, and cash considerations. The Nets then signed Erving to an eight year contract reportedly averaging $350,000 per season, making Erving one of the highest paid pro basketball players at that time.
In his three seasons with the Nets, Erving won three regular season MVPs, two ABA titles, two ABA Playoff MVPs, and two scoring titles. Erving led the Nets to the 1974 ABA championship, averaging 28.2 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.8 spg and 1.4 rpg during the Finals in a 4-1 win over the Utah Stars. "We won the first time we went to the Finals," Erving said. "And most teams don't win the first time they go to the Finals. It was one of my greatest thrills in my whole career." The 1973-74 Nets had the youngest starting lineup in pro basketball (average age: 22.6 years old), and they are perhaps the most underrated championship team in pro basketball history: the Nets went 22-3 down the stretch--10-1 to finish the regular season and
12-2 in the playoffs. The Nets tied the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks' pro
basketball record for best
playoff winning percentage (.857), a mark that stood until Erving's 1983
Philadelphia 76ers went 12-1 (.923); in an expanded playoff format, the 2001 Lakers went 15-1 (.938), and then the 2017 Warriors went 16-1 (.943).
The fifth prong of the ABA's attack was "Unconventional Leadership." The Spirits of St. Louis, the team that hired young broadcaster Bob Costas straight out of Syracuse and that dethroned the Nets 4-1 in the 1975 playoffs, were owned by the Silna brothers, who were barely older than the squad's star players. Kentucky Fried Chicken owner John Y. Brown and his wife Ellie owned the Kentucky Colonels. Ellie led an all-female board of directors that ran the team; at that time, it was unprecedented for women to have an active and controlling role in the operation of a professional sports franchise. Ellie hired Hubie Brown (no relation), and that proved to be the key move for a team that had repeatedly fallen short despite having a talented roster. The Colonels won the 1975 ABA Finals versus the Pacers in yet another chapter of that storied rivalry. Hubie Brown used a 10 man rotation, installed a strong defense, and got the most out of Hall of Famers Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel, and Louie Dampier.
The Colonels challenged the 1975 NBA champion Golden State Warriors to a winner take all game, but the Warriors declined, which speaks volumes about the relative strength of each league at that time; the sixth prong of the ABA's attack was "Just Kick Their Ass," which is what ABA teams did to NBA teams in preseason games that were played with great intensity. Any pretense about the NBA's alleged vast superiority over the upstart ABA falls apart when considering that the ABA teams beat the NBA teams more often than not in head to head play: in 1974, the ABA went 15-10 versus the NBA, followed by a 16-7 edge in 1975 and a 31-17 advantage in 1976.
Episode three ended by cramming in a lot of information in the last five minutes, with scant details. The seventh prong of the ABA's attack was "Steal the Refs," and the eighth prong of the ABA's attack was "Steal Their Biggest Legend," referring to Wilt Chamberlain, who the San Diego Conquistadors signed in 1973 as a player/coach. Chamberlain's player rights were still owned by the L.A. Lakers, so Chamberlain coached the Conquistadors in 1973-74 but did not play for them. The ninth prong of the ABA's attack was "Secret Drafts." ABA executives signed college players to secret contracts so that the players could maintain their college eligibility while also being legally bound to play for a particular ABA team. The episode concluded by noting that in 1975 the New York Nets and Denver Nuggets--two of the league's most stable and successful franchises--had petitioned the NBA for membership without informing the other ABA teams. Dan Silna, co-owner of the Spirits of St. Louis, stated that he had been "betrayed by my partners," and Erving called it "Mutiny on the Bounty."
Episode four ("Party's Over") chronicled the end of the ABA, culminating in the ABA-NBA merger during which four ABA teams (Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, San Antonio Spurs) joined the combined league while the players from the remaining ABA teams were placed into a dispersal draft.
Before the ABA's demise, the league tried everything it could do to survive. The 10th prong of the ABA's attack was "Draft High Schoolers." The Utah Stars signed Moses Malone straight out of high school in 1974, and he had an immediate impact as a rookie, averaging 18.8 ppg and 14.6 rpg (fourth in the league), including a league leading 5.5 offensive rebounds per game--the first of nine times that Malone led the ABA or NBA in that category.
The 11th prong of the ABA's attack was "Find New Basketball Fans." The league struggled financially overall, but Denver and San Antonio developed loyal fan bases, and that carried over after both teams joined the merged league in 1976.
The 12th prong of the ABA's attack was "The First Slam Dunk Contest." The ninth and final ABA All-Star Game featured the hometown Denver Nuggets--who had the best record in the league--facing All-Stars from all of the other teams. The Nuggets won, 144-138. The halftime show was the first official Slam Dunk Contest, with Julius Erving, David Thompson, Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, and Larry Kenon squaring off for the crown. Thompson was an incredible leaper and he did some spectacular dunks, but Erving stole the show with his last dunk: he trotted from one free throw line to the other end of the court, cradling the basketball like a softball in his huge hands, and then he turned around, ran back where he came from, took off with his foot straddling the free throw line, and threw down the clinching dunk. Erving had previously dunked from the free throw line in games, but this particular free throw line dunk became an iconic symbol of his special talents and of how he embodied the free spirited nature of the ABA.
Erving's Nets captured the 1976 ABA title in the league's
final season. In The Ultimate "Five Tool" Players, I explained why Erving's 1975-76 campaign is one of the greatest single season performances in pro basketball history:
Julius Erving put up the first--and most impressive--five-tool season.
In 1975-76, he led the ABA in scoring (29.3 ppg) and ranked in the top
seven or better in the league in each of the other four categories. He
also placed eighth in two point field goal percentage and seventh in
three point field goal percentage. Erving actually came very close to
being a five-tool player in each of the three previous seasons, missing
by just .6 apg and .2 spg in 1972-73, .8 rpg in 1973-74 and .6 spg in
1974-75. All of that was just a warm-up for Dr. J’s final dramatic
operation in the ABA, when he led the New York Nets to the 1976
championship over the Denver Nuggets, topping both teams in all five
statistical categories during that series: 37.7 ppg, 14.2 rpg, 6.0 apg,
3.0 spg and 2.2 bpg. Performances like that inspired the two quotes that
best summarize Erving’s impact on the game: ABA Commissioner Dave
DeBusschere once said, "Plenty of guys have been ‘The Franchise.’ For
us, Dr. J is ‘The League’"; Pat Williams, the 76ers General Manager who
acquired Erving shortly after the 1976 ABA Finals, later said of Erving,
"There’s never been anyone like him, including Michael. If Julius was
in his prime now, in this era of intense electronic media, he would be
beyond comprehension. He would blow everybody away."
After the Nets celebrated in their locker room, Erving decamped to the shower, and there is a striking series of photos of him sitting in the shower by himself, still wearing his uniform. Sitting on a couch looking at those photos nearly 50 years later, Erving said, "I think basketball has always been an escape from the real world. So I think sitting in the shower on the floor, that was like the preparation for going back to reality. Knowing this is the swan song of the ABA, it was like just looming over you. With all the joy and excitement of playing basketball, and winning trophies and all that, there is this flip side--the sadness associated with the ABA being done."
The 13th prong of the ABA's attack was "Surrender." The league had fought the good fight for nine seasons, but had never obtained a national television deal or any other revenue source large enough to keep battling against the NBA. The ABA started the 1975-76 season with nine teams, but the Utah Stars and San Diego Sails folded before the end of the campaign while the Virginia Squires limped to the finish line with a 15-68 record and then folded after not being able to make payroll. The NBA refused to accept more than four ABA teams in the merged league. The Kentucky Colonels accepted a little more than $3 million compensation from the surviving ABA teams. The Silna brothers owned the Spirits of St. Louis, and they had some leverage as the last ABA team left out of the merger, because the merger could not proceed until all underlying claims had been resolved. The Silnas negotiated a deal to receive $2.2 million in compensation for their players who were signed by NBA teams, plus a 1/7th share of each of the surviving ABA teams' visual media revenue in perpetuity. "In perpetuity" is the key concept here; based on the buyout the Colonels accepted, it appears that the NBA valued the media rights portion of this deal at around $1 million--but as the NBA became more popular and the league's media rights soared in value, the Silnas and their lawyer Donald Schupak pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars before the Silnas reached a confidential settlement with the NBA in 2014 to end the payments. That settlement was reportedly worth $500 million.
Each of the four surviving teams paid $3.2 million to join the NBA. The Nets also paid over $4 million to indemnify the New York Knicks. Erving claimed that Nets' owner Roy Boe had promised to renegotiate his contract if a merger took place, but Boe (1) asserted that he had not made such a promise and (2) did not have sufficient financial resources to pay more to Erving. Thus, the Nets sold Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers for around $2.5 million, and the 76ers then signed Erving to a six year deal worth around $3.5 million. Steve Austin was the fictional "Six Million Dollar Man," but Erving had become a real life $6 million man at a time when $6 million was a lot of money to pay to acquire any athlete--even an athlete as extraordinary as Erving, who 76ers' General Manager Pat Williams termed the "Babe Ruth of basketball" to convince the team's owner Fitz Dixon to acquire Erving. In the first post-merger season, Erving won the 1977 All-Star Game MVP and led the 76ers to the NBA Finals, where they took a 2-0 lead versus the Portland Trail Blazers before dropping four straight games. Erving won the 1981 NBA regular season MVP award--becoming the only player to win a regular season MVP award in both leagues--before teaming up with Moses Malone to lead the 76ers to the 1983 NBA title.
"Soul Power" concludes by focusing on the shameful way that the NBA shortchanged ABA players regarding pension payments. The NBA may not have a legal obligation to pay any more money than it has already paid to retired ABA players, but the NBA has abrogated its moral responsibility in a manner that is a blot on the league's name that can never be wiped out. For decades, the NBA dragged its feet, clearly waiting for as many retired ABA players to die off as possible to limit the amount that the league would pay out. In 2022, the NBA finally took some minimal steps to help retired ABA players, but the limited benefits provided are a drop in the league's vast bucket of money and not nearly enough to make up for decades of neglect. "NBA Cares" is an empty slogan papering over the reality that the NBA cares most about maximizing its profits; the NBA not only failed to credit ABA players with their years of service in the ABA, but it shortchanged the "pre-65ers," the players who laid the groundwork for the NBA to become a multi-billion dollar business.
Scott Tarter, an attorney from Indianapolis who grew up watching the Pacers and later got to know many of the retired ABA players, is the CEO of Dropping Dimes Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping retired ABA players.
Other than the unnecessary disrespect directed toward the great NBA players of the 1960s and the omission of the details of Roger Brown's story, "Soul Power" provides a compelling narrative tracking the ABA from its humble beginnings to its on court greatness to its sad demise--but it should be noted that the ABA did not really die: the legacies of Connie Hawkins, Mel Daniels, Roger Brown, Spencer Haywood, Julius Erving, Artis Gilmore, Moses Malone, George Gervin, and other great players who began their professional careers in the ABA are interwoven into basketball history, and the modern game borrowed/stole a lot from the ABA, including the three point shot, the Slam Dunk Contest, and a wide open style of play.
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Supplementary Materials
Those interested in learning more about the ABA should check out NBA TV's 2006 documentary "The Last Night of the ABA" focusing on game six of the ABA Finals but also providing a lot of meaningful background and context about the ABA.
For many years, I vigorously advocated for Roger Brown to be inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, an honor that he received posthumously in 2013. Here is more information about Roger Brown:
Doug Moe: ABA Champion, Three-Time ABA All-Star, and Successful NBA Coach
Doug Moe, who won an ABA championship and earned three ABA All-Star selections before becoming a successful NBA coach, passed away today at the age of 87. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Moe rose to prominence as a two-time All-America selection at the University of North Carolina, where he formed an enduring friendship with his teammate Larry Brown, who became a three-time ABA All-Star before having a Hall of Fame coaching career. Moe's college career ended after he received $75 to fly to a meeting with point shavers, even though he did not participate in the point shaving scheme.
Moe played basketball in the Italian League before joining Brown with the New Orleans Buccaneers in the ABA's first season, 1967-68. Moe led the Buccaneers in scoring (24.2 ppg, second in the league) and Brown led the league in assists (6.5 apg) as both players made the All-Star team. The Buccaneers finished first in the Western Division with a 48-30 record and they advanced to the ABA Finals, where they lost in seven games to the Pittsburgh Pipers, who were led by the incomparable Connie Hawkins. Moe finished second to Hawkins in the regular season MVP voting.
In the summer of 1968, the Buccaneers traded Brown and Moe to the Oakland Oaks for Ronald Franz, Steve Jones, and Barry Leibowitz. Moe ranked third on the Oaks in scoring (19.0 ppg) during the regular season, trailing league scoring champion Rick Barry (who averaged 34.0 ppg but only played in 35 games) and Warren Jabali (21.5 ppg). Brown led the league in assists again (7.1 apg), and Barry, Moe, and Brown all made the All-Star team while Jabali won the Rookie of the Year award. Jabali won the Playoff MVP as the Oaks routed the Indiana Pacers 4-1 in the ABA Finals. Moe ranked third on the team in playoff scoring (19.8 ppg).
After the 1969 season, the Oaks sent Moe to the Carolina Cougars as part of a three team trade. Moe averaged 17.3 ppg for the 42-42 Cougars, earning his third straight All-Star selection. Prior to the 1970-71 season, the Cougars shipped Moe to the Washington Capitols for Gary Bradds and Ira Harge. This reunited Moe with Brown. The Capitols moved to Virginia and became the Squires. Moe's 32 year old knees were wearing down by this point, but he still averaged 13.0 ppg in 78 games as the Squires went 55-29 to finish first in the Eastern Division before bowing 4-2 to the Kentucky Colonels in the Eastern Division Finals.
Brown and Moe both retired after the 1971-72 season. Brown became Carolina's head coach, and he hired Moe to be his assistant coach. Moe served under Brown for two years in Carolina, and then Moe served under Brown for two years in Denver before being hired to be San Antonio's coach after the 1976 ABA-NBA merger. Moe led the Spurs to Central Division titles in 1978 and 1979. The Spurs lost 4-3 to the Washington Bullets in the 1979 Eastern Conference Finals. The Spurs fired Moe after starting 33-33 in the 1979-80 season.
Moe served as Donnie Walsh's assistant coach in Denver for the 1980-81 season, but then took the helm after the Nuggets started 11-20. They went 26-25 the rest of the way under Moe. Moe's Nuggets led the NBA in scoring for five straight seasons, and his
1981-82 squad still holds the NBA's single season scoring record (126.5 ppg). Moe led the Nuggets to a winning record in seven of his nine full seasons with the team, he guided them to the 1985 Western Conference Finals, and he earned NBA Coach of the Year honors in 1988 after leading the Nuggets to a 54-28 record, which at that time was the team's highest single season win total since joining the NBA. George Gervin won three of his four scoring titles while playing for Moe's Spurs, and Alex English won the 1983 scoring title while playing for Moe's Nuggets. Moe went 19-37 as Philadelphia's coach in the 1992-93 season before the team fired him. Moe rejoined the Nuggets as a coaching consultant in 2002, and he worked as an on the bench assistant coach for the Nuggets from 2005-08 under George Karl. After Moe passed away, Karl tweeted that Moe was his "big brother."
In 1997, Moe was one of 30 players selected to the ABA All-Time Team, and in 2018 he received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement award, which has been presented annually since 2009 by the National Basketball Coaches Association (NBCA). Moe was always quick with a quip or a soundbite, and he called everyone--including himself--a "stiff." He was a bit of a showman on the sidelines, and his teams were high scoring and fun to watch, but they also won a lot of games: Moe ranks 26th in NBA history with 632 regular season coaching wins.
Anyone who was associated with the ABA in any capacity joined a fraternity that transcends anything else that the person did during his life, and that feeling was palpable when I covered the ABA Ol' School Reunion in Denver in 2005. The ABA not only had all-time great players who are household names--including Erving, Gervin, and Moses Malone--but it also had some great players whose names and accomplishments are not brought up as much as they should be. One such great player is James Silas. Moe shared with me his memories of coaching against prime James Silas and then coaching Silas after Silas injured his knee: "My recollections of when he was really great are from before he got
hurt, when he was playing against us. He was absolutely the best—the
ultimate guy at the end of the game. He was just terrific.
Unfortunately, he hurt his knee and was never quite the same—still a
great player, but there is no telling how great he would have been had
he not gotten hurt. People really didn't get to know the real Silas in
the NBA. That is a shame. He really was 'Captain Late' and he was the
best."
Doug Moe was one of the original ABA players, and he is eternally a part of that fraternity and that legacy.
Anthony Edwards Crowned as All-Star MVP as Young American Stars Outlast Old American Stars and International NBA Stars
In the latest example of the the NBA's ongoing quixotic quest to make the All-Star Game meaningful again--or at least worth watching--for the fourth year in a row the league changed the All-Star Game format. This time, the All-Star Game was divided into four 12 minute games in a round robin tournament featuring three All-Star Teams: young American stars (Stars), old American stars (Stripes), and international stars (World).
Without getting bogged down in the various scenarios that could have occurred under the new rules, what actually transpired is that Stars beat World 37-35 in the first game, Stripes edged Stars 42-40 in the second game, Stripes defeated World 48-45 in the third game, and Stars routed Stripes 47-21 in the fourth game. The Stars' Anthony Edwards scored 32 points on 13-22 field goal shooting while playing 27 minutes in three mini-games. He received the 2026 Kobe Bryant NBA All-Star Game MVP
award--and he candidly admitted after the event that he did not fully
understand all of the rules for this year's format (he thought that the games were decided by the first team to score 40 points).
When the All-Star Game MVP does not understand all of the rules, perhaps the rules are too convoluted, or at least are not explained clearly enough to the players and the fans.
The first three mini-games were competitive and entertaining, which was a welcome change--but competing hard should be the minimum expectation for the world's greatest athletes on one of their league's biggest stages. World's Victor Wembanyama made it clear that he took the event very seriously, and Edwards later stated that Wembanyama set the tone for everyone else to follow. Wembanyama led both teams with 14 points (4-5 field goal shooting) and six rebounds in the first mini-game, which was tied 32-32 at the end of 12 minutes. Under the rules, the overtime would be decided by the first team to score five points, which Stars accomplished when Scottie Barnes drilled a three pointer after World's defense foolishly collapsed in the paint to give him a wide open shot. Wembanyama could not hide his disgust at his team's mental gaffe. Edwards led Stars with 13 points on 5-9 field goal shooting.
Jaylen Brown scored a team-high 11 points on 5-9 field goal shooting as Stripes beat Stars on a De'Aaron Fox three pointer at the buzzer in the second mini-game. Edwards (11 points on 5-8 field goal shooting) and Cade Cunningham (11 points on 4-6 field goal shooting) paced Stars.
The third game was the Kawhi Leonard show, as the L.A. Clippers' star poured in 31 points on 11-13 field goal shooting in his home arena as Stripes eliminated World. Wembanyama led World with 19 points on 6-8 field goal shooting.
In the final game, Tyrese Maxey paced a balanced Stars attack with nine points on 4-8 field goal shooting, while Edwards added eight points on 3-5 field goal shooting. Leonard played all 12 minutes in the final game, but he scored just one point while shooting 0-4 from the field as Stripes shot 8-31 (.258) from the field. Donovan Mitchell led Stripes with six points on 2-4 field goal shooting.
The post-game spin from many media outlets is that the 2026 All-Star Game was a great success because of the new format. I willingly concede that the first three mini-games included the most competitive basketball seen in the NBA All-Star Game in quite some time--but it also must be stated that the grand finale was difficult to watch. I am not sure if the older All-Stars became fatigued, disinterested after eliminating World, or both, but the four NBA champions on Stripes--LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Jaylen Brown--shot a combined 4-22 from the field, including 1-13 from three point range. Stars shot 20-33 (.606) from the field as Stripes' defense was at least as bad as their anemic offense.
The NBA All-Star Game used to feature the best players doing what they do best in one full-length game with no gimmicks or special rules: Julius "Dr. J" Erving showcased his balletic moves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar drained skyhooks, Magic Johnson made deft passes, and Isiah Thomas did ballhandling wizardry--and this took place while opposing players put up at least some defensive resistance. In the 1986 NBA All-Star Game, the teams combined to commit 50 fouls while attempting just 10 three point field goals. NBA teams averaged 25.2 fouls per game during the 1985-86 regular season, so 50 combined fouls is in line with that era's norm (teams are committing 20.1 fouls per game so far this season); the East's 139-132 win over the West in 1986 was not a defensive struggle, but the players took the ball to the hoop against resistance and the game at least resembled a real NBA game.
In yesterday's four mini-games, the teams combined to commit 23 fouls in more than 48 minutes of action, which is barely half the foul rate during the 2025-26 regular season. This is an improvement over six combined fouls in the three mini-games in the 2025 All-Star Game and three combined fouls in the 2024 All-Star Game, but let's not pretend that making minimal effort in three mini-games before producing a dud in the fourth mini-game is remotely close to what should be expected from the NBA's best players.
The sad reality for the modern NBA is that teams and players demand extraordinary incentives to play hard and try to win; a handful of teams play hard during the regular season because they believe that they have a chance to win the NBA title, but at least a third of the league's teams are actively tanking to try to improve their draft positioning and many other teams engage in "load management," which is a polite way of saying that they accept losing by not putting their best team on the floor every game. Star players sit out large numbers of games and then complain that they are not eligible to win postseason awards (because of rules that the NBA enacted to try to dissuade star players from sitting out so often).
Far too many NBA players chase every last dollar that they can receive on and off the court while not taking pride in perfecting their craft or even showing up for every scheduled game; there are a few exceptions to the trend, but in general the players seem to be more focused on making money than on making the game great, and it is not clear what--if anything--can be done to reverse this trend.
Michael Jordan had a "love of the game" clause included in his NBA contract to prevent the Chicago Bulls from limiting his participation in non-NBA games, including pickup games for which he was not paid anything; current NBA players do not even love the game enough to play hard all of the time when they are being paid tens of millions of dollars per year.
The contrast between Jordan's era and the modern era could not be more stark, or more sad.
"At least some of the players tried some of the time.
Sadly,
that is the best that can be said about the NBA's new All-Star Game
format featuring four teams playing a mini-tournament consisting of
games that are each an untimed race to 40 points. TNT's Charles Barkley,
Shaquille O'Neal, and Kenny Smith picked the rosters for three of the
four teams out of a player pool consisting of this year's 24 NBA
All-Stars. Barkley's Global Stars included players with an international
connection, O'Neal's OGs included veteran American players, and Smith's
Young Stars included young American players. Trae Young was selected by
Commissioner Adam Silver as a replacement for the injured Giannis
Antetokounmpo on the Global Stars, and Silver tapped Kyrie Irving to
replace the injured Anthony Davis on the OGs. LeBron James (OGs) and
Anthony Edwards (Young Stars) waited until the day of the game to decide
that they could not play, and thus no replacements were selected for
either of them. The fourth team, Candace Parker's Rising Stars, included
rookies and second year NBA players who won the Rising Stars event on
Friday night.
I've been following the NBA since the 1970s, and the
NBA All-Star Game used to be one of my favorite events, but recently it
has become something that I watch more out of a sense of duty than a
feeling of joy; during the 1980s, I loved watching the East's Julius
Erving, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, and Isiah Thomas compete against the
West's Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and George Gervin because the players had fun and showed off their individual skills while playing to win--but
in recent years the All-Star Game has featured various gimmicky formats
while the only thing the players competed at was showing who was least
interested in playing hard."
"The 2023 NBA All-Star Game
may have been not only the worst NBA All-Star Game ever, but possibly
the worst basketball game ever played by high level players--until the
2024 NBA All-Star Game sunk to a new low: the teams launched 168 three
point shots while attempting just five free throws as the Eastern
Conference All-Stars routed the Western Conference All-Stars, 211-186.
That is not competitive basketball, and it is unrecognizable compared to
what the All-Star Game used to be: in 1994, the East beat the West
127-118 in a game featuring a combined 60 free throw attempts but just
30 three point field goal attempts; there was no shortage of highlight
plays/moments but the most important thing is that the players competed.
During the wonderful 2024 NBA Legends Brunch,
Larry Bird praised today's players and made a request: "The one thing I
would really like to see is they play hard in tonight's
All-Star Game. I think it's very important when you have the best
players in the world together you've got to compete and you've got to
play hard."
Instead, the players disrespected themselves, the
sport, and the legends who built the game that provides them with the
opportunity to receive generational wealth. No one is expecting the
All-Star Game to resemble game seven of the NBA
Finals, but the refusal of the modern players to even pretend to want to
compete is sad...
We hear so much about how great Commissioner Adam Silver is, but it
appears that he is praised because he tends to let the players do
whatever they want, in contrast to his predecessor David Stern, who viewed himself as a caretaker of the sport as a whole.
Considering how little today's best players care about putting even
forth minimal effort, the NBA should get rid of not just the
All-Star Game but even the concept of being an All-Star: retain All-Star
Saturday Night (it could be renamed something else, like NBA Showcase
Saturday) and of course retain the Legends Brunch, but the All-Star Game
serves no purpose, and being selected as an All-Star in today's NBA has
no meaning. Only the awards given after the season matter, so let the
players grumble about having to play at least 65 out of 82 games--oh,
the suffering!--to be eligible to win those awards.
Here is
the challenge to Silver: fix the All-Star Game, or have the intestinal
fortitude to not only get rid of it but to publicly say that he is
getting rid of it because the players do not take it seriously enough to
deserve to have it and to receive the bonuses associated with being
selected for it."
"The
2023 NBA All-Star Game was not only the worst NBA All-Star Game
ever, but it may have been the worst basketball game ever
'contested'--and I use that word with hesitation--by high level players.
Denver Nuggets Coach Michael Malone, who coached Team LeBron, made this
statement after Team Giannis prevailed 184-175: 'It's an honor to be
here, and it's an honor to be a part of a great
weekend with great players, but it's the worst basketball game ever
played.' Malone also admitted that he has no idea how to fix the game.
The
NBA All-Star Game began its horrific slide to irrelevance several years
ago (see game recaps appended to this article for more details), but
yesterday the league's showcase midseason event descended to a nadir
from which there may be no recovery.
At its best, NBA basketball
is about the world's greatest athletes competing at a high level at both
ends of the court while working together to help their team win. At its
worst--and its worst was on full display last night--NBA basketball is
about players flaunting their individual skills without any connection
to team success while their 'opponents' step aside and watch instead of
competing on defense. The 2023 NBA All-Star Game was such an abomination
that it is difficult to decide which moment was the worst."
"How much has the All-Star Game devolved from an actual competition
featuring the league's best players to an exhibition of players
demonstrating individual skills devoid of competition or team play? Free
throws are a quick way to gauge physicality/defense. The 2022 All-Star
Game included eight fouls, four of which were called in the fourth
quarter, and Team LeBron shot 2-2 from the free throw line while Team
Durant shot 7-7 from the free throw line. This season, NBA teams average
a little over 21 free throw attempts per game, so it is obvious that
the All-Star Game featured few fouls, few free throws, very little
physicality, and token defense compared to a normal NBA game.
All-Star
Games used to be played much differently. In the first NBA All-Star
Game, the East beat the West 98-93 in overtime in 1954 with the East
shooting 36 of 44 from the free throw line and the West shooting 17-26
from the free throw line. In 1962, Wilt Chamberlain set an All-Star
single game scoring record (42 points) that stood for 55 years.
Chamberlain shot 8-16 from the free throw line, and his East squad shot
24-43 from the free throw line. The West, which won 150-130, shot 36-51
from the free throw line. Chamberlain's scoring record took place during
a competitive game, and the record stood until long after NBA All-Star
Games ceased to be competitive; his record is so exceptional that even
in an era during which it is much easier to score in All-Star Games only
two players have surpassed the standard that he set--and Curry did so
by making a bunch of uncontested three pointers.
For most of
All-Star Game history, players from both sides played hard, played
defense, and committed a normal amount of fouls. Things began to change
in 2007, when the victorious West only attempted nine free throws and
the East only attempted 13 free throws, a big decline from 24 and 28
respectively in the 2006 All-Star Game. The 2008 All-Star Game was more
of the same. Matters improved a bit during the next several All-Star
Games, but in 2014 the East attempted nine free throws and the West
attempted 12 free throws. Since 2014, single digit free throw attempts
per team have been the norm rather than the exception--and on the rare
occasion that a team has attempted more than 10 free throws most of
those free throw attempts have happened in the fourth quarter, when the
new scoring rules inspire (or shame) the All-Stars into playing some
defense."
"Giannis Antetokounmpo did not have the first perfect shooting
performance in NBA All-Star Game history--Hal Greer shot 8-8 from the
field en route to scoring 21 points and winning the 1968 NBA All-Star
Game MVP--but he set the NBA All-Star Game record for most field goals
without a miss (16), and he captured his first All-Star Game MVP by
scoring a game-high 35 points as his Team LeBron routed Team Durant,
170-150. Antetokounmpo played just 19 minutes, so he scored nearly two
points per minute. Most of Antetokounmpo's shots were lightly
contested--if not uncontested--dunks, but he also shot 3-3 from three
point range. Each team shot 3-5 from the free throw line as both teams
spent most of the game not even pretending to care about defense.
Perhaps the league and/or the players think that the fans want to see
uncontested dunks and wide open three pointers, but I think/hope that
true basketball fans want to see competition. A contested dunk is a
great play; an uncontested dunk is just performance art."
"After
three quarters, it seemed that the new NBA All-Star Game format had not
inspired many players from either team to even pretend to play at a
fraction of their full capabilities. Fortunately, the fourth quarter--a
race to 157 points based on adding 24 points (in honor of Kobe Bryant)
to the 133-124 lead enjoyed by Team Giannis over Team LeBron at the end
of the third quarter--featured high level play as both teams looked
fully engaged: Team Giannis' Kyle Lowry seemed to try to take a charge
on every defensive possession, players from both teams contested almost
every shot, and the level of physicality ramped up to top notch regular
season levels, if not even first round playoff levels.
It is mystifying that most NBA players seem to need external motivation
to play their best in the All-Star Game, but with a substantial portion
of the weekend's festivities dedicated to the memory of
Bryant--including naming the All-Star MVP award for him--it would have
been a travesty for the players to just sleepwalk through the entire
proceedings. Kawhi Leonard is a pioneer of the less than commendable
load management scourge, but at least he always plays hard when he is on
the court. Leonard scored a game-high 30 points on 11-18 field goal
shooting (including 8-14 from three point range), grabbed seven
rebounds, dished for four assists, and received the first Kobe Bryant
All-Star Game MVP Award as his Team LeBron won, 157-155."
"The All-Star Game sunk to such depths a few years ago that there were
even whispers that it might be discontinued. Instead, the league changed
the format from East versus West to a format in which the top two
vote-getters conduct a draft consisting of a pool of other All-Stars
selected by fans, coaches and media members. LeBron James faced off
against Giannis Antetokounmpo in this year's All-Star draft. Popular
consensus was that James, whose draft strategy seemed to be focused on
acquiring every major player who will be a free agent soon, got the
better of Antetokounmpo--but it did not look like that initially, as
Team Giannis led 53-37 after the first quarter and 95-82 at halftime.
Antetokounmpo scored a game-high 38 points on 17-23 field
goal shooting, including 10 dunks. He also had 11 rebounds and five
assists. He set the tone in the first quarter with 16 points.
Antetokounmpo's
Milwaukee teammate/All-Star teammate Khris Middleton added 20 points on
7-13 field goal
shooting, including 6-10 from three point range. Middleton scored 12
first quarter points.
To coin--or repeat--a phrase, it seemed like Team LeBron was in 'chill
mode' during the first half, but in the second half they exerted at
least some defensive effort and they rained down a barrage of three
pointers. Team LeBron outscored Team Giannis 96-69 in the second half
while shooting 22-49 from three point range. The teams combined to
attempt 167 three pointers during the game, compared to 108 two pointers
attempted.
Kevin Durant earned MVP honors by scoring 31 points on 10-15 field goal
shooting (including 6-9 from three point range) while also contributing
seven rebounds. He had 11 points on 4-4 field goal shooting in the
fourth quarter. Durant's Golden State teammate Klay Thompson finished
second on Team LeBron with 20 points on 7-16 field goal shooting (6-12
from three point range) and he had eight rebounds and four assists as
well."
"LeBron James scored a game-high 29 points on 12-17 field goal shooting,
grabbed a game-high tying 10 rebounds and dished eight assists as Team
LeBron defeated Team Stephen 148-145 in the first year of the NBA's new All-Star selection format;
instead of the traditional matchup featuring the Eastern Conference
facing the Western Conference, a team of All-Stars picked by LeBron
James faced a team of All-Stars picked by Stephen Curry. The NBA tweaked
the All-Star Game in the wake of several subpar All-Star Games,
culminating in last year's farce.
Before the 2018 All-Star Game, James already held the NBA All-Star Game
career scoring record (314 points) and yesterday he surpassed Julius
Erving (321 points) to set the record for most points scored in ABA and
NBA All-Star Games combined. Bob Pettit (1956, 58, 59, 62) and Kobe
Bryant (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011) share the record with four All-Star Game
MVPs each, while James joined Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and
Shaquille O'Neal as three-time winners; James previously earned the
All-Star Game MVP in 2006 and 2008."
"The Western Conference's 192-182 victory over the Eastern Conference is
without question the worst NBA All-Star Game that I have ever watched.
Other than the MLB All-Star Game that ended in a tie (and many NFL Pro
Bowls of recent vintage) it may be the worst major professional league
All-Star Game ever. When the reigning two-time regular season MVP
literally lies down on the court instead of attempting to play defense,
you know that the event has jumped the shark."
"A work of art contains its verification in itself: artificial, strained concepts do not withstand the test of being turned into images; they fall to pieces, turn out to be sickly and pale, convince no one. Works which draw on truth and present it to us in live and concentrated form grip us, compellingly involve us, and no one ever, not even ages hence, will come forth to refute them."--Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Nobel Lecture)
"The most 'popular,' the most 'successful' writers among us (for a brief period, at least) are, 99 times out of a hundred, persons of mere effrontery--in a word, busy-bodies, toadies, quacks."--Edgar Allan Poe
"In chess what counts is what you know, not whom you know. It's the way life is supposed to be, democratic and just."--Grandmaster Larry Evans
"It's not nuclear physics. You always remember that. But if you write about sports long enough, you're constantly coming back to the point that something buoys people; something makes you feel better for having been there. Something of value is at work there...Something is hallowed here. I think that something is excellence."--Tom Callahan
