Kevin Durant has had a lot to say this weekend on the state of the NBA All-Star Game.
For years, the competitiveness of the All-Star Game has been a hot topic as viewership has declined. Through multiple format changes, a draft, three teams of eight, World vs. USA teams, the NBA has tried several different approaches to generate competitiveness and interest.
Some of the scrutiny has centered on the perception that previous All-Star Games, such as when young Kobe Bryant took it upon himself to challenge Michael Jordan in the 1998 All-Star Game, were more competitive and featured greater player effort.
So Durant told reporters on Saturday that he went back and looked at previous All-Star Games, claiming to watch “at least the first quarter of every All-Star Game from like the ’70s up until the late ’90s,” searching for validity in the presumption that previous editions displayed higher competitiveness.
After his research, he bristled at that notion.
“I’ve been watching All-Star Games and the intensity the older generation been talking about,” Durant told reporters before trailing off and shaking his head disapprovingly. “I don’t know if I’ve seen it.”
Viewership numbers of the midseason, star-studded exhibition have declined in recent years.
Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel reported that viewership for the 2025 All-Star Game was down 13 percent from the 2024 game, sitting at 4.7 million viewers. It was the second-lowest All-Star Game viewership since 2000, which, by contrast, had 10.5 million viewers. The previous three iterations are among the lowest, and the only games to produce fewer than 6 million viewers. The 2023 All-Star Game drew only 4.6 million.
Earlier this week, the Houston Rockets forward, about to compete in his 16th All-Star Game on Sunday in Los Angeles, challenged the idea that it was elder statesmen like Stephen Curry, LeBron James or Durant himself who caused the shift in effort and therefore the watchability of the game. That it was them alone ceding seriousness for recreational enjoyment of the league’s most talented showcase that changed the perception of it.
“You should ask the Europeans and the World team if they’re going to compete,” Durant said. “If you look at Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić now, let’s go back and look at what they do in the All-Star Game. Is that competition? So we haven’t questioned what they’ve been doing. But we’re going to question the old heads and the Americans.
“But these two dudes out there, Luka and Jokić, they don’t care about the game at all. These dudes be laying on the floor. They’re shooting from half court. But you’ve got to worry about the old heads playing hard? I can read between the lines, bro. It’s just an overall topic that everybody’s been talking about.”
On Saturday, Durant reaffirmed his stance that the question of his and other superstars’ effort was an unavailing narrative to explore every February.
“I just feel like fans and media need something to complain about, and the All-Star Game don’t make them feel like it made them feel back when they were kids, so they need something to complain about,” the 37-year-old said. “I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, to be honest. The All-Star Game, the All-Star Weekend, it’s here to celebrate the game of basketball.”
Durant, forever the hoops obsessive, simply sees the All-Star Game in a different light.
Regardless of the television value of the actual game, it’s a celebration of the league for him. To see the basketball world, current and previous (he shouted out former teammate and four-time All-Star DeMarcus Cousins attending the media session) descend together upon one city in one moment is enough for him.
Let everyone else say what they want.
“People at home complaining about the game and the intensity of it, I don’t think we’ll ever get past that,” Durant said. “I just think it’s way bigger than that this weekend. We can talk about who plays harder, the U.S. team vs. the World team, all that stuff doesn’t matter. I just really feel like this is a great weekend, and it brings so many people together and helps push the game forward.”
And for the older generation that says the NBA greats competed harder in the All-Star Game?
Durant watched the games.
He doesn’t believe you.