Barack Obama complains about the performances of the NBA’s best at the All-Star Game: “It’s an insult to the game”

There is perhaps no more respected voice among NBA players outside of their own circle than former President Barack Obama. A well-known basketball fan who supports the Chicago Bulls, Obama frequently hosted players at the White House for opening games during his presidency. And when players in the Orlando bubble in 2020 had to decide whether or not to keep playing after the shooting of Jacob Blake, they turned to Obama for advice. His voice carries weight in the basketball world.

Hopefully his criticism of the NBA All-Star Game on Wednesday will be noted ahead of the event next February. The former president appeared on The Young Man and the Three podcast as a guest of Tyrese Haliburton, one of the show’s new rotating hosts, and criticized the young all-star for the way he and his contemporaries dealt with the Mid-season exhibition.

To sum up his complaint in a single quote, Obama urged players to “take it more seriously” because at the current state of the game, he no longer plans to watch it.

“You all need to be a little more proud of this All-Star Game,” Obama said. “It’s not like you all don’t play pickup in the summer. You know how to play like, ‘Okay, I’m not going to hurt anyone, I’m not going to take anyone out.’ But this All-Star Game is a bust, man.

“It insults the game,” Obama added. “This is your business. This is your product. You don’t want people to think you’re all half-hearted.”

Last year’s All-Star Game saw a ridiculous 397 total points, but none of them came from high-octane action with entertaining highlights. The players simply didn’t try to defend themselves. Over 58% of the shots taken in the game were 3-pointers as the ball handlers carried the ball down the court and ran into jumpers. All of this happened despite a major push by the league to convince players to play harder. As Haliburton noted, Larry Bird spoke to them before the game to encourage them to play harder.

Obama suggested that the reason players are so lax in the All-Star Game today is because of their huge salaries. Players don’t want to risk injury in a friendly game when they have hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, but they also may not see as much of a need to sell the game to fans at an exhibition event like the All-Star Game because they already do earn so much.

But Obama’s stance will likely prevail throughout the basketball world. Nobody wants to see such an uncompetitive game. If the players don’t take the game seriously, the fans won’t take it seriously either.