How Jaylen Brown Feels About NBA All-Star Game Controversy

The NBA All-Star Game proved to be a faulty product once again in 2024.

Jaylen Brown, who represented the Boston Celtics for a third time at All-Star weekend, both as a dunk contest participant and Eastern Conference reserve, understands the outside narrative. From afar, watching a non-competitive, nearly effortless four quarters of basketball defeats the purpose of gathering the league’s brightest stars for a marquee showdown.

Yet, even with all the heat the NBA’s getting hit with after both teams nearly combined to score 400 points, Brown doesn’t see a whole lot changing.

“It will be hard to see a change from being fun,” Brown said during a visit to Puerto Rico on Tuesday, according to Jorge Figueroa Loza of GFR Media. “I think that’s what players prefer. I know the fans want to see us compete because we are the best in the world. … You win nothing in the All-Star Game. It’s just media bragging rights, maybe. Everybody is trying to stay healthy.”

Then again, there’s playing with caution and then there’s playing with no intentions of contesting a single shot, whether it’d be four inches from the rim or 40 feet out. Sunday night’s East-West battle was exactly what commissioner Adam Silver didn’t want to see, and for several reasons.

Brown was the only All-Star who chose to participate in the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest, competing alongside two G-Leaguers (Mac McClung and Jacob Toppin) and a rookie (Javier Jacquez Jr.). It’s notable that Brown was willing to step up when not a single other All-Star was willing to compete.

That was just the start of what became a wasted opportunity.

Being subjected to a much-too-long night of uneventful skills challenge and 3-point shootout battles, fans tuned in for the most boring NBA game of the year, headlined by a handful of future Hall of Famers. Seemingly impossible on paper, the East and West impressively ruined All-Star weekend by turning a highly-anticipated exhibition into a nonchalant open gym run.

Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic barely lifted their feet off the floor, Damian Lillard was recognized as the MVP for nailing wide-open 3-pointers and a record-setting 211 points were scored by the East — a record with a big, bold asterisk right next to it.

There’s no easy fix moving forward. If the players don’t value what the All-Star Game has meant to generations of players before, and more importantly, the fans, then Silver and the league office will need to get very creative.