Editor’s note: Shortly after the end of select NBA events this season, Joe Vardon will offer his “First Thoughts,” a dissection of the important things you should know about what you just watched. These will be a running diary of news, notes, quotes and insight and will include observations gathered from the site of each event. Vardon is covering his sixth NBA season and formally joined The Athletic‘s national team in September.
CHICAGO — Twenty-seven thoughts for 27 points by 3-point champ Buddy Hield on All-Star Saturday night, which shall forever be remembered for the dunk that didn’t win.
1. Before everyone got drunk on 3s and dunks and, well, booze, Adam Silver kicked off All-Star Saturday night with the most sobering of press conferences.
2. Scandalous, brilliant dunk contest. Aaron Gordon jumped over freaking Tacko Fall … AND LOST! There wasn’t a person at the United Center, outside of maybe Miami’s Derrick Jones Jr., who won the damn thing, who didn’t think Gordon was getting a 50 on the Fall dunk. We were wrong. Sacramento’s Buddy Hield won the 3-ball contest on the last shot, and the Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo captured the skills competition. Oh, and so you know, Saturday night at All-Star weekend is the headliner when it comes to partying until the wee hours. For instance, LeBron James always hosts his star-studded party on this night. An absolutely banner night here in Chicago, where the All-Star Game is being held for the first time since Michael Jordan won the dunk contest in 1988.
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3. Saturday’s dunk contest winner would have been OK with running it back some more. “He clipped Tacko’s head when he did that dunk, so I knew they couldn’t have gave him a 50 for that one. I would have respected it if they gave him another 48 so we can go again,” said Jones.
4. “Jumping over somebody 7-5 and dunking is no easy feat. What did I get, like, a 47? Come on, man, what are we doing?” said Gordon.
5. Silver always talks at All-Star Weekend, and again before Game 1 of the Finals. He makes other remarks throughout the year, as circ*mstance dictates. But for this one, he was at the podium for the first time since his former boss and dear friend David Stern died. Same for Kobe Bryant. The NBA’s TV ratings continue to drop. And there is the matter of the league losing hundreds of millions of dollars from the fallout in China over Daryl Morey’s infamous October tweet. Heavy stuff.
6. As you know, Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died Jan. 26 in a helicopter crash in Southern California, along with seven others. The entire NBA community remains devastated by this, and Silver reshaped Sunday’s All-Star Game to honor Bryant and his daughter in a bunch of ways. Perhaps the ultimate tribute came Saturday when Silver announced the All-Star MVP Award was renamed for Bryant, an 18-time All-Star and four-time MVP himself.
7. “His loss, together with his daughter and those other seven people on the helicopter, is unspeakable,” Silver said. “As the father of a child, I mean, that’s unimaginable. Again, we are honoring Kobe and his daughter in the All-Star Game. As you all know, we changed the jersey numbers, 24 for Kobe and 2 for his daughter Gigi. I’d say that’s something that the players embraced. This generation of players, so many of them grew up with Kobe as their role model as a player, as a competitor, and he loved the game, and he stayed close to these guys. It’s been amazing to me, you know, in a sort of similar way that David found a way to connect to so many people, Kobe connected to so many of this current generation of player, and by connected, I mean they all have stories where he was breaking down film with them. He was talking to them about the belief in winning — that extra drive, that inner beast he called it, that was necessary to truly be a champion.”
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8. Stern, the league’s commissioner from 1984 to 2014, died on New Year’s Day from complications from a brain aneurysm. Silver was deputy commissioner for years and spoke Saturday of Stern being one of the first to hold his daughter when she was born. Of Stern and Bryant together, Silver said: “They were both determined to win. They could be difficult at times because they prioritized winning, and often, they didn’t have time for some of the niceties around personal relationships because it was about winning, at least while Kobe was a player.”
9. “I just say I certainly would not be standing here today but for David Stern, and the NBA wouldn’t be where it is today but for Kobe,” Silver said.
10. OK, China. It’s been a minute, but to recap, Morey, the Houston Rockets’ GM, sent a tweet in October in support of Hong Kong protestors just as the Lakers and Nets were getting set to play exhibition games in China. The Chinese government was very upset, and there was significant backlash. The NBA is still not on government-run TV there, and the financial loss to the league from ties being severed by Chinese business partners is substantial. For the first time Saturday, Silver kind of quantified the loss. He said the league’s reduced salary cap for next season, from $116 million down to $115 million, was due in part to losses in China.
11. “I think that the magnitude of the loss will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” Silver said. “Certainly, probably less than $400 million, maybe even less than that. It’s substantial. I don’t want to run from that. We were taken off the air in China for a period of time, and it caused our many business partners in China to feel it was, therefore, inappropriate to have ongoing relationships with us. But I don’t have any sense that there’s any permanent damage to our business there, and as I’ve said before, we accept the consequences of our system and our values. It’s not a position any business wants to be in, but those are the results.” If it’s “probably” less than $400 million, it’s safe to say the controversy cost the NBA $300 million anyway.
12. Silver said the NBA was still considering playing preseason games in China next season but also that Team USA might play warmup games there before heading to Tokyo in July for the Olympics. It’s true, the Americans were supposed to play two games in China, with at least one in Shanghai against France. But a source told The Athletic those plans were being reconsidered (though they are not yet canceled) due to concerns over the coronavirus.
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13. TV ratings. Phew, boy. They’re down roughly 15 percent, year over year, after suffering a dip last season, too. The conversation about last season’s dip centered around LeBron, who moved from Cleveland to the West Coast for the Lakers, meaning his games were on later, and then he suffered the worst injury of his career and missed too many games. This season, yes, the league put the Warriors (who lost Steph Curry and Klay Thompson to injuries) and Pelicans (Zion Williamson’s knee surgery) on national TV, and that was a problem. But there is a bigger issue, Silver said.
14. “It’s well known that, on one hand, we’re celebrated by some because we have such a young fan base, but that young fan base is disconnecting from pay television in record numbers, and by disconnecting, not just simply not subscribing to cable or so-called cutting the cord; they’re not watching traditional paid television the way they used to,” Silver said. “They’re watching over-the-top streaming services. They’re watching screens, but it’s not essentially pay TV. So the good news for the league is that, when we look at all other data points, particularly what we see in social media, what we see in terms of distribution of highlights and general chatter around our games, we’ve never been more popular, but we haven’t found a way to connect those young fans to our broadcast through whatever platform they’re going to be delivered. Again, I think it’s a very solvable problem.”
15. Sheesh. Who needs a drink? Oh, hey, NFL Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes is here. Let’s have some fun, shall we?
16. The dunk contest went into double overtime. Gordon had the last crack at it, and somehow emerged from the sidelines was Fall, of the Celtics, who is, you know, 7-foot-5. And Gordon took the ball off Fall’s head and dunked it. For a 47. You say, “But Gordon clipped the back of Tacko’s head. It wasn’t clean.” And to you, I say, “Whatever, man.” Jones’ winning dunk, copying Chicago’s own Zach LaVine (who, it should be said, beat Gordon in 2016), saw him take off from one step inside the foul line for a windmill dunk. He won with a 48. It was a nice birthday gift from the judges. Jones turned 23 on Saturday. There was cake. On the court. Before his first dunk of the night.
17. Jones and Gordon received 50s on their two dunks in the finals and first dunk in overtime. This was a dunk contest for the ages. Most of the dunks involved jumping over other humans, save for 34-year-old participant Dwight Howard. Pat Connaughton jumped over a major leaguer. Jones and Gordon also pulled off catching passes off the side of the backboard and doing crazy stuff with the ball in midair before slamming it home. Gordon kept jumping over Chicagoan Chance the Rapper for his dunks. Jones, meanwhile, hurdled Adebayo for one dunk and hopped over two guys (it was not immediately clear from the nosebleeds at the United Center who they were).
18. Connaughton jumped over Giannis Antetokounmpo — you read that right — took the ball off of Antetokounmpo’s neck, banged the ball off the backboard and dunked. And he couldn’t advance. Dwight Howard, who won the dunk contest in 2008, brought back his Superman cape (and Jameer Nelson) for one of his signature dunks from 12 years ago. Both received 50s for their dunks … and didn’t make it. This was one helluva contest. For his first dunk, Connaughton, of the Milwaukee Bucks, not only jumped over Brewers star Christian Yelich but also did so dressed like Billy Hoyle from “White Men Can’t Jump.” Howard had Nelson bring him his Superman cape, as he did in 2008. That was supposed to be Bryant this time. Instead, Howard put a No. 24 patch over the “S” on his chest.
19. The 3-point contest came down to the final shot. Hield, of the Bahamas, trailed Devin Booker by a point, but every shot in Booker’s last rack was worth two (it was full of the red, white and blue money balls). Hield drained it for a score of 27. Washington’s Dave Bertans was third with 22 points in the final round. Joe Harris, the defending 3-point champ from the Nets, didn’t make it out of the first round this year.
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20. Hield, what a gem. He showed up to his media availability Saturday morning (9:15 local time) clearly hurting. His hood was over his head. And on Saturday night, after winning the 3-point contest, he confirmed as much. “I went out last night,” he said. One can only imagine what he gets into Saturday night. He was groggy. He was asking how long he had to be there. The light was bothering his eyes, it seemed.
21. “As a shooter, this is on your bucket list,” Hield said. “With a stacked field like that, it makes it even better. Pressure us on and you have to show up.”
22. Adebayo, a third-year pro and first-time All-Star, knocked off Indiana All-Star Domantas Sabonis to win the skills championship — an obstacle course of dribbling, passing and shooting. This was great, from Adebayo: “I just want to say something. I read a tweet that I was last to win in Vegas. So whoever bet, I hope you got your money. I hope you go buy yourself a Ruth’s Chris, Cheesecake Factory, something in that fashion.”
23. Adebayo beat defending skills champ Spencer Dinwiddie in the first round. Why am I mentioning this? Because earlier Saturday, Dinwiddie, a Brooklyn Net, just destroyed the New York Knicks during his media availability.
24. “In terms of history, we’ll never take over the Knicks,” Dinwiddie said, talking about the fan bases of the Knicks and Nets. “Like, that’s not going to happen. They’re too in entrenched in what it means — Madison Square Garden, Rucker Park, that type of vibe, right?” But then, well, Dinwiddie took a turn.
25. “But in terms of being a better basketball team, that happened a minute ago,” he said. “Like, that’s not new. We’re a better basketball team than the Knicks. We were last year, we probably will be next year. Knicks fans are gonna get mad, but that is the truth. They’ll probably have a high draft pick unless they do something via trade or via free agency, which I don’t know if this free-agency class is, like, that spectacular. They’re probably not going to be that good. We’ll see. I can’t tell the future, but more than likely, I mean, KD is coming back. He’s Kevin Durant; he’s really good.”
26. Dinwiddie not only torched the Knicks but also his NBA brethren headed for free agency — including his teammate Harris, who’s a free-agent-to-be. Also, the Nets are in seventh in the East, currently good enough to make the playoffs. While the Nets’ future seems bright when Durant returns next season, they could also easily be seated next to the Knicks watching the playoffs this spring.
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27. What a weekend for Damian Lillard, groin injury be damned. Sure, getting hurt kept him out of Sunday’s All-Star Game and the 3-point contest (Booker took his place in both), but he STILL rapped on stage Saturday night, under the stage name Dame D.O.L.L.A. I am not qualified to critique the performance or tell you names of songs. Sorry. But also, Lillard apparently became engaged this weekend to his longtime girlfriend and the mother of his child, Kay’la Hanson. The posts confirming the engagement were all over social media. He apparently asked her to marry him on Valentine’s Day. Sweet. Dame D.O.L.L.A. cashed in.
(Photo: Ivan Shum / Getty Images)
