The 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend was a total disaster. Specifically Saturday night’s skill challenges. Are these challenges getting too old? Fans are starting to get exhausted from these events. 

“The very concept of All-Star Weekend is a little out of date. It’s not like people are excited about the MLB All-Star Game or the Pro Bowl, either. There’s only so much any of these sports leagues can do to get people into events that were designed in a world before cable TV, much less the internet and social media. I would be interested in watching a one-on-one tournament, though. It’s definitely worth a shot,” said Jonathan Tjarks. 

Friday’s events started off with the typical Celebrity Game. Fans seemed to enjoy seeing NFL star Myles Garret and others go at it. The Rising Stars games were next. In past years, it would be a simple Team USA vs Team World. However, this year the NBA implemented a new format for the game. There were four teams: Team Barry, Team Isiah, Team Worthy and Team Payton. 

“I like it,” the Grizzlies’ Desmond Bane said. “I think playing to 50 points makes it a little more competitive. At first I didn’t really know what to expect, just kind of read off other guys and how they’re playing. The second [championship] game, guys played much harder obviously, it was cool for sure.”

In the new format, Team Isiah faced off against Team Worthy to kick things off. Team Isiah won, 50-49, which sent them to the championship game. The second game featured Team Barry and Team Payton. A game-winning layup from Jae’sean Tate sent Team Barry to play Team Isiah in the finals. In the championship game, scoring ended at 25 because 50 plus 25 would equal 75 years of the NBA’s existence. With a thrilling performance from rookie Cade Cunningham, Team Barry ran away with a 25-20 win. 

“To win,” Cunningaham said. “I felt like we had the team to do it, so we had to come out and prove ourselves and get the chip. So glad we did it.”

What a good start to the weekend right? Little did fans know, it  was downhill from there. The next day was an absolute disaster. All-Star Saturday, which has usually been the most exhilarating night of all, did not live up to its hype. The skills competition, three-point contest and dunk contest did not exist as usual. The Taco Bell Skills Competition kicked off the night with a splash. The new format worked quite well and looked like we were in for an enjoyable evening. 

“Under the new format for the Taco Bell® Skills Challenge, three teams of three players will participate in a four-round competition that tests shooting, passing and dribbling ability. Each of the three teams will compete in the first three rounds of the Taco Bell® Skills Challenge,” released the NBA. 

The three teams consisted of Team Antetokounmpo, Team Rookies and Team Cavs. Team Antetokounmpo had Giannis, Alex and Thanasis Antetokounmpo. Team Rookies has Josh Giddy, Cade Cunningham and Scottie Barnes. Team Cavs had Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Jarett Allen. The first round was a simple shooting round. Different spots around the court were worth different amounts of points. Each player on every team would each take as many shots as possible in under 30 seconds. 

“Evan Mobley and Darius Garland close out the first round of #TacoBellSkills with a show for the Cleveland crowd! Team Cavs in the lead on TNT.”

Round 2 was a passing challenge with moving targets. The three players on every team had 30 seconds to successfully pass the ball into the three targets as many times as possible. However there was one rule: only one player was not allowed to make consecutive passes at the same target. 

“In the Team Passing round, Team Rooks and Team Antetokounmpos were tied as they both put up a tally of 88 while Team Cavs fell short with their total of 74. In the tiebreaker, the Greek brothers won the Team Passing and get the 100 challenge points because they made more ‘outlet passes’,” reported NBA.com.

The final round before the championship round was a relay race. There were five obstacles in the competition: throwing a chest pass into a target, dribbling through three moving pylons, making a floater inside the paint, making a three-pointer with a moving windmill, and dribbling back down the court and scoring a layup or dunk. 

“With Team Rooks winning the final round of Team Relay, which was worth 200 challenge points, they sealed their place in the finale.” 

The championship round showcased Team Rookies and Team Cavs in a half court shootout. The three players had to make at least one half court shot as quickly as possible. Team Rooks knocked down a shot after 9.9 seconds. Out of all the competitors, the viewer had expected the actual shooter, Darius Garland to knock down a shot. But the rookie, Evan Mobley, sent Team Rooks home with a shot in 5.5 seconds.

“EVAN MOBLEY FROM HALFCOURT TO WIN #TacoBellSkills FOR TEAM CAVS IN CLEVELAND!”

After a great performance to start the night, the three-point contest began. The competition consists of sniper shooters from across the league who battle it out to identify the true three-point king. This year’s participants included Desmond Bane, Fred VanVleet, Luke Kennard, CJ McCollum, Patty Mills, Zach Lavine, Karl Anthony-Towns and Trae Young. The early favorite on most people’s mind was Trae Young. While Young ended up going to the final round, KAT took home the trophy. 

“Year of the big man? Karl-Anthony Towns becomes first center to ever win 3-Point Contest,” said Chris Fedor. 

The final show of the night was supposed to be the one to cap it off. However, it was a total letdown. The 2022 AT&T Slam Dunk Contest was the definition of horrific. The participants were Knicks forward Obi Toppin, Warriors forward Juan Tascano-Anderson, Magic guard Cole Anothony and Rockets wing Jalen Green. Did fans expect the greatest performance ever? No, but the media thought with the athleticism of Obi Toppin and Jalen Green, and the posters we see from Cole Anthony and JTA, it would be somewhat of a great show. But that was not the case. 

“Let’s never talk about that dunk contest again. It never happened,” tweeted Bill Simmons. 

How do we revive the intensity of the contest? Get better, more flashy players that fans see do crazy dunks in games throughout the season. Players like Ja Morant and Anthony Edwards are players who have all had crazy dunks this year. Yet players like Morant have voiced concern about the potential risk of injury. In an interview with Bleacher Report, Morant insisted that he would need $1 million if the league wanted him to compete. 

“I feel like now you just see so many crazy dunks in-game that when the dunk contest comes, you don’t appreciate the dunk as much,” Morant said.

The other problem in the competition is the rules on how many attempts a participant receives for a dunk. A player gets three tries before they score an automatic six of ten points. But the rulebook also states that it is not considered an attempt unless the ball comes down with the player. Therefore, if the player were to lose the ball mid-air, the attempt wouldn’t count. A prime example of this was Jalen Green. The rookie attempted nine dunks because he never got a good grip on the ball. Throughout the stadium, even the judges voiced annoyance by the countless number of missed dunks.

“Michael Jordan is 59 Years Old and I am 100 Percent Confident that he would have won this year’s Dunk Contest,” joked Mike Korzemba.

The next day was the All-Star game. The most entertaining event was the actual game. Fans got a crazy 50-point bomb from Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP winner Stephen Curry. And the Ohio native Lebron James hit the game winning jump shot.

“Stephen Curry, what planet are you on right now?” said Robert Covington. 

The NBA All-Star Saturday night needs a shake up. Whether it is just a change of order for the contests or a straight-up cut of the dunk contest, the competition all fans have loved is in jeopardy of losing its value.