The NBA revamped the All-Star Game this season, creating a player pool that two fan-voted team captains will draft from. But that All-Star draft will not be televised, and even though John Wall felt the player picking should be live, NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently shot down that idea.
Adam Silver doubles down on not televising All-Star Game draft
Silver says he doesn’t want to put captains in a position to pick one player over another, live.
Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images
Silver spoke to The Starters’ Tas Melas while in London for the 2018 NBA London Game, and he said this year’s All-Star selection process was the beginning of a change for the better:
“This is a new initiative, and so it may develop over time, in terms of how teams are selected,” Silver said on Wednesday. “Yes, it would be more fun if we had [a public draft]. On the other hand, I recognize that in picking a team to perform in the here and now, it’s a little different than drafting.”
Silver went on to cite “a sense from the players” that it could put them in a compromising position to publicly choose one player over another.
LeBron, for one, could care less whether or not the draft is done live or announced beforehand:
“It doesn’t matter to me,” James said, via ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “It doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, if I’m rewarded to be a part of the All-Star Game again, that’s cool for me. It doesn’t matter. All that other stuff is extracurricular.”
But John Wall felt strongly about the draft being televised live:
“If you made the All-Star Game, it should be televised who is going to be on what team,” he said on NBC Sports Washington’s Wizards Tipoff podcast.” I don’t think you should call them and then wait until everybody sees who will be an All-Star. They should let it be known. We’re grown men, like [LeBron] said. If they ain’t pick you, they ain’t pick you.”
Having the draft done live and televised would give the All-Star Game an authentic pickup basketball feel. Someone always gets picked last. Whether it’s the 15th man on the roster, the last free agency signing or the last pick in the NBA draft, there’s always going to be someone at the end of the line.
You just play through it — sometimes with a chip on your shoulder — and prove why you should have been picked higher. Hopefully the NBA sees that and one day changes the process.
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