The NBA Got Destroyed In Their All-Star Ratings And Its Their Own Fault

The NBA All-Star Game ratings are in and they looked like something the Washington Generals would have drawn.

Sunday night's ASG averaged a 2.2 rating with just 4.59 million viewers across TNT and TBS. This was BY FAR the worst rated and least watched NBA game, surpassing the 3.1 rating from the past two years that drew around 6 million viewers in 2021.

Yikes.

And for Commissioner Adam Silver and the rest of the league, they now have to take a step back and really take a good hard took at the multitude of problems that they now face as one of the major professional sports leagues.

LET'S BREAK DOWN WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE NBA

From the NBA's self-destructive focus on "load management," to allowing players like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to literally demand teams to trade them or they will opt-out of their contracts, to the league's involvement in the "woke" politics realm, the pitiful NBA rating shows that maybe the NBA isn't heading in the right direction.

Oh, and it doesn't help when the players themselves make a mockery of the All-Star Game! Literally within 1 minute of Sunday night's game - which I watched at a bar, there was a resounding groan and "screw this," from everybody in attendance.

You know it's bad when the game's not even fun to gamble or BET on because everyone immediately knew what they were going to get. A cringe-worthy display from some of the best athletes in the world making a mockery of the game they claim to love. The ASG game, hell the whole entire weekend, was pathetic.

The NBA may not be entirely broken, but their should be serious discussions about the path they've chosen so far.

CONGRATULATIONS, THE ALL-STAR GAME IS THE NEW PRO BOWL

The NBA wrapped up their All-Star Weekend with Team Giannis defeating Team LeBron 184-175. That means there was a total of 339 points. I understand that the game is an exhibition, but would it have been so hard for SOME sort of defense?

I've seen WWE referees have more of a prominent role than the NBA refs did on Sunday. Why even bother having them at at all?

And you know what? The worst (or best part) is that the NBA did this to themselves.

You would think they would heed the words of one of the greatest to ever play the game, Kobe Bryant... who said this years ago:

No, instead this league has allowed players to control the narrative and the discourse of what the league is going to stand for, represent and how they are going to perform on the actual court. Oh, you have back-to-back games? Well, sorry can't expect a star player to actually ya know, do his job and play both games.

Oh, you saved money so you could take your family of 4 and your kids to a game so they could see LeBron James play in an away game? Only to then have him sit out for no real reason? Thanks for coming, see ya later. That's what the NBA has turned into. It's frustrating and it's sad that it's gotten as out of hand as it has.

EVEN THE SLAM DUNK COMPETITION WAS ROUGH

In previous years, when the direction of the NBA All-Star Game itself began becoming lame, at least there was always the prospect of a potentially great Slam Dunk competition.

No disrespect, but this year's four competitors were relative nobodies.

I'm sorry but Jericho Sims, Trey Murphy, Kenyon Martin Jr., and G-League player Mac McClung aren't the star power that can bring together both the die hard and the casual NBA fan. (Although to be fair, McClung did deliver on his own - he realized it was an opportunity for him to get his name out there and he took complete advantage of it with some pretty sick dunks)

LEBRON JAMES HASN'T HELPED

Last week I extensively wrote about how LeBron James ruined the NBA Slam Dunk competition. By opting out for literally two decades now, James turned what was once a must-watch exciting event into an inferior afterthoughts.

Michael Jordan was able to participate not once, but two different times including some of the most iconic photos of all time that turned him into Air Jordan from the free-throw line. Kobe Bryant participated and won it in his rookie year. Domonique Wilkins, hell even "Superman" Dwight Howard did their part, realizing how fun and important the game is.

Not LeBron though. He couldn't be bothered. See, LeBron only cares about certain issues that matter to HIM and can't have anything that challenges his public image. Imagine if he proved he was human and missed a dunk? Can't have that - would tarnish his public image.

Stephen A. Smith echoed many of my sentiments from my OutKick column, when he went on First Take this past Monday:

NOBODY WATCHED ON SATURDAY

The NBA All-Star Saturday Night festivities - which included the dunk contest and the three-point competition, had its lowest ratings IN TWO DECADES.

That doesn't just happen out of nowhere.

Clearly there is, as I've mentioned, a plethora of reasons why it all seems like the league is heading towards a Perfect Storm of problems.

THE NBA REFUSES TO LISTEN

Whether it's not listening to Kobe Bryant's foreshadowing about what could happen to the ASG, to serious concerns ahead of the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement about workload management and players refusing to actually abide by their contracts, there's a lot going on within the NBA.

But the fans have literally been telling them what they disagree with.

Fans are vocally irate about not being able to see their favorite players play despite them making hundreds of millions of dollars.

In previous years, fans have destroyed the NBA for the players laughable All-Star Games and their lack of defense. Did the league make any sort of changes to it this year besides continuing with a "Team Draft" by Giannis and LeBron that took over 40 minutes and nobody cared about in the first place? Of course not.

Brooklyn Nets owner Joseph Tsai has not criticized China. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

WHERE DOES THE NBA GO FROM HERE?

As far as the NBA All-Star weekend, the league may not have to start paying the players to actually... play. Yes, there will now have to be a monetary incentive in order for players to compete. That's how sad the NBA has allowed this to spiral out of control.

However, it's more than that.

Time and time again the league is questioned about their double standards.

There have been, and rightfully so, serious questions about the NBA's continuing posturing to China. Brooklyn Nets billionaire owner Joseph Tsai has deep ties to China and its Communist government as a direct result of him being a cofounder of the Alibaba Group. Yet he's been silent on the oppression that is happening against the Muslim Uyghur population there. Oh, and there's also the report that Darryl Morey - who made headlines by tweeting his public support of Hong Kong, had his suite cancelled by Tsai and the Nets. Funny how that works out.

We know that the NBA was livid about Morey's tweet.

You know who else was upset? Some Americans that don't understand why the NBA is putting their business dealings ahead of moral principles.

But do you know who else was silent with his outrage, be it about Uyghur or some things here in America? LeBron James.

The same player who was essentially silent by not participating in the Slam Dunk competition throughout his 20-year career. And the same player who is one of the most egregious players as far as workload management goes.

And that my friends, is how it's all intertwined and thus why the NBA saw its lowest rated All-Star Game in decades.