It sounds so good on paper: let’s take the very best players in the NBA and have them play a pickup game. The only problem is that the players simply do not care about the outcome. The resultant malaise that plagues the All-Star game has slowly increased once the hyper competitive guys like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant ceased to be a factor.
To their credit, the NBA is trying.
They’ve completely remastered the team-building process, and (perhaps more importantly) also ramped up the individual player rewards - $100 grand to each player on the winning team.