John Legend will be the halftime performer for the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, the league announced on Monday. Legend sung the national anthem during Game 1 of last year’s NBA Finals, but now he’ll have a chance to sign his own hits at one of the league’s biggest events.
John Legend will be the 2017 NBA All-Star Game’s halftime performer
Legend means the league is back to selecting pop stars for the All-Star game.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Beyond being a 10-time Grammy winner, Legend released his fifth studio album, titled Darkness and Lights, in early December. You can expect him to play a medley of his greatest hits and at least a track or two off that new album.
Last year, the NBA chose Sting — the former lead man for The Police — as the halftime show, an odd choice for a league whose demographics trend much younger than most leagues. Legend returns the league back to its trend of selecting pop stars for its All-Star weekends. In the past five years, the league has chosen artists like Ariana Grande, Pitbull, Chris Brown, Alicia Keys and, for the 2011 games in Los Angeles, a combination of Kanye West, Rihanna, and Drake.
On Sunday, the NBA teased the announcement with this tweet.
Legend was a safe guess after that tweet, but the jokes that came because of that tweet made it all worth it.
The 2017 All-Star Game was initially planned to be held in Charlotte, but the NBA chose in July to move the game after North Carolina instituted an anti-LGBTQ law. About a month later, New Orleans was chosen as the host for the second time in three years.
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