The NBA All-Star game on February 18, 2024 was unwatchable. By the way, I did not watch it.
The game was not a game, but young guys were running back and forth, throwing a ball around. There was a record number of points scored. From what I heard, there wasn’t much running by the second quarter.
Listening to commentators and the NBA commissioner, something must be done, or the weekend should be canceled.
One idea floating around is paying the winning team players. In the in-season tournament, the players on the winning team received $500,000 each. For journeymen players, this amount is significant. The stars also played hard in support of their teammates.
For all-star players, $500,000 is a drop in the bucket. A carrot of a money reward may not work. However, I have an idea. Make the players and coaches wager on themselves.
My idea assumes each team has five coaches and 15 players. Have the NBA set up two reward pools, $15,000,000 for players and $5,000,000 for coaches. I’ll explain how the player pool would work.
Before the game, each player would put a certified check in a personalized sealed envelope. The checks would be drawn on the player’s account. The check amount could be any number from $0 to infinity. That is the wager they are placing on their team to win.
After the game and a winner has been determined, the winning player’s envelopes will be opened. This part of the show may draw as much attention as opening Al Capone’s vault.
Each player would get his check back and a corresponding amount from the player pool.
If the winning team’s total wager is more than $15,000,000, the pool will be distributed based on the proportion of a player’s wager to the team’s total. If the total of the winning team’s wager is less than $15,000,000, the excess money would be returned to the NBA.
The losing team’s envelopes would be opened.
If the losing team’s total wager is less than the winning team’s total wager, the losing team’s wager will be distributed to the winning team players at the proportion of the winning player’s wager.
If the losing team’s total wager is more than the winning team’s total wager, the winning team players will receive an amount equivalent to their wager. The excess money would be returned to the losing team players in proportion to their wager.
The same concept would be used with the team coaches and their $5,000,000 reward pool.
Since the envelope opening is public knowledge, the fans will know which players bet low. Maybe that will influence fan voting in future years.
Only players dressed for the game would be included in this process. Also, all-star contract incentives may need to change to only reward those who dress.
Good TV? There may be some defense.