DAKAR, SENEGAL — NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum acknowledged to ESPN that the All-Star Sport wants minor tweaks following criticism of its depth ranges in Salt Lake Metropolis just lately.
In defence of the usual of the All-Star Sport, which Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone known as the “worst basketball game ever played” after main Group LeBron this 12 months, Tatum argued that administration of damage threat ought to be prioritised alongside competitiveness.
Nevertheless, he insisted that the 2023 All-Star Weekend was successful general and the occasion didn’t have to be essentially re-conceived.
Tatum advised ESPN whereas attending the Basketball Africa League in Dakar, Senegal: “There isn’t any doubt – we now have to have a look at the All-Star recreation and make some tweaks and proceed to make sure that it is an entertaining product for the followers on the market.
“On the identical time, we now have to be cautious. It’s an exhibition recreation, so we do not need gamers getting harm throughout that recreation.
“Perceive: there is a steadiness there. It is one thing that we’re – and having conversations, by the way in which, with the gamers, on issues that we’d be capable to do otherwise subsequent 12 months.”
In Tatum’s eyes, report fan engagement pointed to the truth that it wasn’t a failure of a weekend in any respect, saying: “I might say that once we take into consideration the All-Star recreation, it’s the one time of the 12 months the place we herald the perfect basketball gamers on the earth, in our league, in a single place.
“That is why the engagement you are seeing units data. This 12 months, we had a report [1.75 billion] fan engagements – social media and digital engagements all over the world. The All-Star Saturday night time, the efficiency that Mac McClung gave on All-Star Saturday night time, broke data.
“Our video games there have been broadcasted in 214 international locations… The engagement numbers are actually what mattered there as a result of it is a fan occasion. It is an exhibition recreation; it is an All-Star weekend demonstrating the perfect expertise within the NBA, however there are additionally different enterprise targets there.
“It is our largest occasion to host advertising companions and companions from all over the world.”