"Stars descending upon Indy, really?": Stephen A. Smith vehemently wants NBA All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas

The NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament, which recently culminated with its semifinals and finals in Las Vegas, has widely been deemed a huge success. This has ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith questioning why the league’s annual All-Star Weekend can’t be held at similar big-market venues.

During a recent episode of “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” Smith first raved about the tournament before sharing his biggest problem surrounding the NBA.

Smith brought up how the NFL hosts its annual Super Bowl in state-of-the-art arenas in big-market cities like Los Angeles, Arizona and Las Vegas. He then contrasted that to the NBA, which regularly gives small-market franchises a chance to host the All-Star Weekend.

“For the NBA, it has been Cleveland, Utah and now Indianapolis. Come on y’all,” Smith said.

According to Smith, small-market teams like the Indiana Pacers, who will host the 2024 All-Star Game, are not equipped to handle such star-studded events. He would thus like to see the league find better host cities moving forward.

“All-Star weekend is supposed to be a party. It’s supposed to be a big party, a big celebration,” Smith said.

“Stars descending upon Utah, stars descending upon Cleveland, stars descending upon Indy, really? Really? You come out here in Vegas, this is what it’s all about. You’ve got enough hotel space everywhere, there’s parties going on everywhere, you don’t gotta get caught in every traffic jam.”

(9:04 mark below)

Smith added that the league should stop trying to appease team owners who want to use All-Star Weekend “to build their local economies.” As for which cities Smith would like the event to be held at other than Las Vegas, he named LA and Miami.

It remains to be seen if the In-Season Tournament’s success will alter how the league doles out All-Star Weekend hosting rights moving forward. However, the tournament has certainly given NBA commissioner Adam Silver a lot to consider regarding the league’s future endeavors.

---

---

NBA In-Season Tournament provided league with massive ratings boost

As for how big of a success the In-Season Tournament was, per Forbes, it provided the NBA with a considerable ratings boost throughout the tournament.

The tournament’s group-play stage reportedly resulted in a 26% ratings increase from the same time last season. Meanwhile, the LA Lakers and Phoenix Suns’ quarterfinal matchup culminated in a whopping 89% ratings boost from last year.

Additionally, the Lakers’ semifinal matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans in Las Vegas resulted in an average of 2.2 million viewers. This marked Warner Bros. Discovery's most-viewed game since Week 1 of the season.

Many have reasoned that the tournament could still use a few tweaks in terms of formatting. Nonetheless, it appears that it is here to stay and will become an annual league tradition for years to come.

---