As TNT attempts to embrace hosting their final NBA All-Star Game, Charles Barkley is preaching the need to fix the event.
Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson announced the All-Star reserves Thursday night on Inside the NBA, after revealing the starters last week. With the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend just two weeks away, it should be a celebratory moment, but the event has been severely depleted in recent years.
“I hope that we’re able to figure something out…As long as I’ve been in the NBA, except for the last few years, it was the biggest thing that happened all year.” – Charles Barkley on NBA All-Star Game pic.twitter.com/LfTWklLl9I
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 31, 2025
“I hope that we’re able to figure something out, to be honest with you,” Barkley said. “As long as I’ve been in the NBA, except for the last few years, it was the biggest thing that happened all year. The players were glad to be there. Every star was there. The NBA made a big deal.”
O’Neal pushed back on Barkley, asking “they who?” while arguing it should only be on the current players to figure something out and improve the product.
“We,” Barkley said regarding who needs to figure something out. “We’re part of the NBA family. We’re all part of the family.”
“No, they have to,” O’Neal said insisting it’s on the players. “They have to go in and take pride like we did and say, ‘Thank you. I appreciate it.’ It’s on the players. It has nothing to do with the league. The players got to go play hard.”
In an effort to “figure something out,” the NBA has tinkered with the All-Star Game format in recent years, trying a draft with captains and trading the game clock for a designated score. This year, the NBA will split the 24 All-Stars into three teams of eight, to create a mini-tournament.
Now that the 24 All-Stars have been announced, Barkley, Shaq and Smith will serve as general managers to divide the pool into three teams. But it’s clear, Barkley doesn’t think they’re the answer to figuring out the All-Star Game. Throughout all of the changes, NBA players have remained largely unenthused, keeping the game non-competitive. What once was a celebration of the sport, is now a glorified shootaround that garners more negative attention than positive.
