ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith calls All-Star Game ‘an absolute travesty’ and offers extreme solution

As the All-Star Weekend came to an end, fans and experts gave mixed reviews of the league’s showcases. Even though the events had many fun moments, including the bromance between Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic, or the three-point contest between Sabrina Ionescu and Stephen Curry, the quality of the competition lacked intensity.

After Sunday’s East vs. West matchup, I think everyone can agree that the exhibition lacked defense. So, it was no surprise that the match produced a record-winning performance from the Eastern Conference’s stars, who beat their opponents by double figures and scored 211 points.

Stephen A. Smith felt incredibly frustrated after watching the All-Star display and voiced the need for a drastic change on Monday’s episode of First Take, even explaining why the contest should be cancelled.

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“What transpired last night was an absolute travesty,” said the ESPN icon. “Nearly 400 points were scored. No defense, no effort whatsoever. This is the ultimate indictment against NBA stars who show up on NBA All-Star weekend—you play harder in the summer when you’re training.”

Smith believes that the stars play harder in training. “Nobody’s asking you to compete like you’re going up against the playoffs or even a regular season game,” he expressed. “But when you are working out in the summertime … You see guys giving effort in the summer. That’s all I’m saying. To that degree. That is not hard. The fact that you would go out and flagrantly show such a lack of effort on the defensive side of the ball in any capacity is just a travesty.”

When superstar LeBron James was asked about the game’s poor defense, he admitted that it went against their competitive nature. “They let us tighten up in the postseason. It’s a deeper dive into a conversation of how we can shore up this game. Obviously from a player’s perspective, it’s fun to get up and down. But at the end of the day, our competitive nature don’t like to have free-flowing scoring like that.

“But I think the good thing that came out of tonight was none of the players were injured, and everybody came out unscathed or how they were before the game started. So it’s a deeper conversation,” shared the Lakers star.

JJ Redick also complained about the weekend’s schedule, as the All-Star Game started 45 minutes late

In the most recent episode of his own podcast, The Old Man and the Three, JJ Redick truly became an old man and complained about the league not respecting their own schedules. The former NBA star went off on the lack of punctuality during the All-Star Weekend.

“Why can’t we start anything on time in the NBA,” the 15-year veteran said on Monday in a 30-second rant. “Why can’t we? I’m going to sound like an old person here. If it says 8:00, I don’t want it to tip-off at 8:42.”

The All-Star Game was supposed to start at 8:00pm ET, but the contest’s tip-off finally came almost an hour later. Redick unleashed his bewilderedness and even mentioned how difficult it is to raise children with no punctuality.

“I’ve already told my kids they can watch the first quarter. It’s a Sunday night. Guess what, they’ve stayed up late like four straight nights because nothing starts on time in the NBA, and it’s driving me crazy. And I work for a broadcast partner. Can we please just start things on time in the NBA? It’s out of control. It’s absolutely out of control,” he said.