Winners & Losers From The 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend

Enter caption

So the 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend is a wrap and easily, the biggest takeaway from the three-day extravaganza is the improved competitiveness at the Sunday night finale - the All-Star Game. After seeing teams pass the 190-point mark over the past couple of games, it was time to change things up and the impact of the new Draft system was quite noticeable.

Teams were actually playing defense, the referees had to use instant replay in one instance in the closing minutes and the final deciding play of the game was a defensive stop. All of that combined with the charity donation angle made the All-Star Game a good conclusion to the weekend.

But, just like any other event, there were winners and losers here too. Without going in-depth into every angle possible, here are the biggest winners and losers at the 2018 All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.

Loser: Fergie's National Anthem

Celebrities At The 67th NBA All-Star Game: Team LeBron Vs. Team Stephen
Celebrities At The 67th NBA All-Star Game: Fergie

It's the All-Star Weekend, not to mention it was in Los Angeles, so there was definitely going to be a hugely popular name singing the National Anthem pre-game. This time around, it was 8-time Grammy Award-winning singer Fergie.

While there was nothing wrong with her voice in general, her delivery wasn't typical to that of a sporting event or a patriotic song. Many took to Twitter to make their feeling and reactions known.

Also read: Twitter roasts Fergie on her rendition of the Nationa Anthem

A majority of the reactions were not really harmful or disrespecting but it created quite a bit of a buzz on Twitter. Surely, she's achieved a lot to be affected by something like this. Nonetheless, going by the crowd's reactions, the halftime and pre-game show made up for national anthem.

youtube-cover

Winner: Los Angeles

NBA All-Star Game 2018
NBA All-Star Game ball passed on to Charlotte Hornets' owner Michael Jordan

The All-Star Weekend is a great weekend for not just the league but also for its fans and of course the host city. The league, with the event, brought with it a lot of business for the city and with Hollywood not far off, Los Angeles certainly benefitted from hosting the midseason spectacle.

Through their numerous NBA Cares' events, the league took active participation in helping out those in need. In addition to the Friday NBA Cares events, the league was also going to donate money to the charity of the team captain's choice - $150,000 to the losing captain's choice (Team Stephen - Brotherhood Crusade) and $350,000 to the winning captain's choice (Team LeBron - After-school All-Stars Los Angeles).

Irrespective of what are the storylines at the weekend, the host city is always a winner. Next season it will be Charlotte, North Carolina.

Loser: Phoenix Suns

Devin Booker - Winner of the JBL 3-point contest
Devin Booker - Winner of the JBL 3-point contest on All-Star Saturday

Unless the Phoenix Suns pulled off an upset win over any of the top teams in the league, which is highly unlikely, Devin Booker winning the three-point contest would most likely be the greatest moment of their season. It's a pity but this is the state of affairs for the franchise from Arizona.

One could make the argument that Spencer Dinwiddie winning the Skills Challenge should then make the Brooklyn Nets a loser too, right? No, and let me explain why.

There's no doubting the fact that the Nets are among the worst teams in the league but it's more to do with a talent deficiency than anything else. That situation has been created because of the terrible trades the previous regime made. Meanwhile, in Phoenix, they have a legit star in Booker but they can't seem to do anything else around him but make plans to tank (shutting down active healthy players) at this time of the year.

Now, agreed the sample size is pretty small - it's just two years but it's not like the management was setting an example prior to that. Since the franchise just missed on a Playoff spot in 2013-14 with a 48-win season, they have not been competitive, to say the least.

They have been self-destructing to a certain degree, in order to get a good draft pick. Their general direction as a franchise, considering all their deals and trades over the past couple of seasons, haven't been encouraging.

Winner: Donovan Mitchell

2018 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest
2018 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest Winner - Donovan Mitchell

If the Utah Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell wasn't receiving enough eyeballs before the All-Star, he made sure to grab some more at the weekend. He came out with a stellar showing in the Mountain Dew Rising Stars Challenge, putting up 7 points and 7 assists in 23 minutes including this vicious off-the-backboard dunk:

If that wasn't enough, he went out on Saturday and won the finale event - the Dunk Contest - with this dunk paying homage to Vince Carter.

The Mitchell fan train took off in mid-December and has been going strong, making him a serious candidate for Rookie of the Year. Some analysts/pundits have even gone as far as picking him to win it over Ben Simmons, someone who was considered a lock a month back.

Donovan's contribution to the team, in their wins, has been undeniable and in the weeks leading up to the All-Star weekend, he got even more eyeballs with the team's current 11-game win streak.

Loser: Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers' young core - Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball
The Lakers' young core - Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball

It's not too often that the host city doesn't have an All-Star from their team. The last time a host team didn't have an All-Star of their own was in 2005 when Denver were the hosts for the Weekend. This year, in LA, there were technically two hosts - the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers but neither had a player in Sunday's game.

Facts are facts. Even considering the last few years, Los Angeles will always be a Laker town. Now, the Lakers are currently rebuilding but that doesn't change the fact that they had no player from their team playing on Sunday while the game was being played in their arena - Staples Center.

Hopefully, by the time, the All-Star Weekend returns to LA (in about 7-8 years), the Lakers will have not one but two All-Stars to show off.

Winner: LeBron James

NBA All-Star Game 2018
2018 NBA All-Star Game MVP LeBron James

The 2018 All-Star Weekend belonged to LeBron James. Period.

From a basketball standpoint, in his 15th season, he dominated the game, putting up numbers like 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists. Those numbers, along with the fact that his team won the game, helped James earn his third career All-Star Game MVP Award.

However, his biggest impact came concerning an off-the-court issue.

On Thursday, Uninterrupted, James' multimedia platform for athletes, released a video where James, Durant and ESPN host Cari Champion drove around Akron, Ohio while discussing various sensitive issues in the US. While speaking about racism, James came out hard criticizing President Donald Trump for his methods and ways.

A day later, FOX News' Laura Ingraham called out James and Kevin Durant for their opinion and took personal shots at them. Unlike the host, James did not retaliate but instead took a stand. At every possible chance, he was asked about the controversy, James just said he will not just shut up and dribble.

Listen in to everything he had to say at the All-Star presser:

youtube-cover

Quick Links

Edited by Yash Matange