Stephen A. calls the NBA All-Star Game an ABSOLUTE TRAVESTY! | First Take

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe recap the NBA All-Star festivities, especially the high-scoring game on Sunday.

0:00 Celebrity All-Star Game issues?!
3:50 Stephen A.’s take!
7:00 Stephen A.’s challenge!
8:30 “Not as bad as the Pro Bowl”
10:00 Dunk Contest has come to an end?

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Good day what’s going on everyone welcome to First Take on this beautiful Monday Shannon you’re looking very handsome in the blue out there in the ATL hope you’re having a good time ESS it’s great to have you in New York City of course I’m sorry I don’t even know if

I’m talking to I’m sorry wait can I just go ahead go ahead at the hands of a cowboy at the hands of a cowboy at the hands of did you see Michael Parson Michel Parson ran over like literally ran over men women and children I mean he would just beat people up Shannon

Coached him up he beat people up when when Shaq was doing it you said Shaq was dominant when Giannis does it Giannis is dominant when LeBron does it he’s dominant now you complaining you stack the deck you had I got I got theck stacked it stacked it did you see PUK

The cool yeah did you see are you ready for this are you ready for this do you know he wasn’t on the roster Shannon added him at the last minute sh added that brother at the last minute did and they gave me micle Harman who who who who Who’s your

Size did you see the difference did you see the difference don’t ha don’t hate with the transfer portal and that he can recruit players excuse I didn’t know we were allowed to do it they F I’m trying to tell you right now shanon pull strings man this is what a three time

Hall of fam a three a three time Hall of fam now we learned the real status I’m just a little old reporter right there that that that has the world repor this brother right here is the three time is the three time Super Bowl champion the

Hall of fam and he pulled strings he pulled strings puka Thea could play I told puka the I don’t want to talk to you I a want to talk to you right now this brother was came out there flying dunking on people I’m like what what the

Hell is going on here that’s what they did to me him and 50 Cent my Ed to be last and then we’re moving on was this loss worse for for you or the Michael wilbon loss I’m going to tell you this one really because Shannon added added the

The P the peeps at the last minute what an addition and they gave me Nico Nicole I don’t know if Nicole micle Harman is the size of you or my daughter Samantha I don’t know but I mean that’s how small he was but

This the do all all like a oh my God but Co har we’re going to get into it yeah yeah last one more thing Molly one more our celebrity game was more competitive than the actual game yes it was yes it was I like that you want to know why

Because you two set the tone all right let’s get into it guys a lot to unpack from this weekend so although it was a record setting night of scoring in the East two 21 186 win over the West the NBA All-Star Game did not deliver the competitive product stressed for months

By Commissioner Adam Silver All-Star MVP Damen Lillard with his thoughts on whether the competitiveness can be fixed I think something could be done about it um I’m not sure what but I think it there’s a way for to to make it a more competitive game I don’t think

Anybody’s going to play in it like it’s the playoffs but it’s a way to to get guys to come to the table and and just play a more solid game I guess um but I did think it was a good game you know anytime the crowd is is engaged and

You’re hearing oo and A’s and but it was just too many probably leak out you know go get a dunk go get a layup type of moments and I think if we can just limit those um you know people probably wouldn’t feel the way they feel

Sometimes about it I don’t know I mean I think something we need to figure out um you know I don’t know where’s the median because this is what this is what a lot of the games are starting to look like now 2186 Stephen A is this allstar game

Fixable no not as president constructed Shannon sha I’m of this mindset right now they need to do away with Allstar Weekend just get rid of it the whole weekend no no no no let me finish the three-point shooting contest I’m totally good with the three-point shooting contest not just Steph Curry and UNESCO

Who were fabulous but the overall three-point shooting contest never cheats us never disappoints us they going out there they shoot trying to make shots there’s nothing wrong with the three-point I’m talking about the skills competition I’m talking about the slam dunk competition and I’m talking about the allstar game let me start with

The All-Star Game ladies and gentlemen what transpired last night was an absolute travesty nearly 400 points was scored no defense no effort whatsoever this is the ultimate indictment against the NBA stars who show up on NBA Allstar Weekend you play harder in the summer league when you train it that’s all

Anybody’s asking we all know that when you playing in the summertime and stuff like that ain’t nobody trying to get hurt but you still give one another effort because you’re working on your game you can give the fans at least that nobody’s asking you to compete like

You’re going up against the playoffs or even a regular season game but when you are working out at summertime Shannon you know this okay you see guys giving effort in the summertime that’s all I’m saying to that degree that that is not hard the fact that you will go out there

And flagrantly show such a lack of effort on the defensive side of the ball in any capacity is a is just a travesty now if you want to sit up there and look at the fact that the kids are there to watch you that’s fine because they may

Not care but anybody that knows a basketball dust and we know it’s a flagrant lack of effort and it’s embarrassing and we know if money was on the line you’d be given more effort even though you already getting paid hand over foot it’s really a travesty now let

Me go to the slam dunk contest now this is where I blame your boy LeBron James Shannon Shar not for the allstar game but for the slam dunk contest he’s never participated he is the only Superstar Above the Rim superstar in the history of the game who did not participate in

The all in the slam dunk contest I’m not talking about now I’m talking about the decision that he’s made over the years and what that has done is provoked a lot of cats on to come up to not participate in the slam dunk contest either and now we’ve got a g leag

Who is a backto back Slam Dunk champion props to Jaylen Brown for participating not caring about what people were going to say or how it looked he went out there and he competed because you need names in the slam dunk contest and I applaud him in every way imaginable for

Participating but the others that chose not to participate you trying to tell me we wouldn’t want to we wouldn’t want to see an Anthony Edwards in a slam dunk contest you’re trying to tell me when J was healthy and in an All-Star game we would not have wanted to see johnar in

The allstar game of course we would want to see stuff like that Shannon I’ve called for a national competition across the streets of America all right go and find you can find some Superstars for a slam dunk contest and had NBA Allstar sponsor them all right I got this guy I

Got this guy I got that guy and let them be active in that regard but let some of these brothers out here that can slam dunk throw a million doll prize for the winner A500 ,000 prize for the runner up a 100,000 prize for third place finisher get a national competition going on

Throughout the streets of America and watch how many people will put on a show that’s far far better than what we’re getting from these guys okay and the skills competition don’t even get me started in the end the reason why I’m saying do away with it if you want to

Show such a flagrant disregard for the fans for the audience knowing that the product that you putting out there is trash from the All Star I’m talking about superstars on the court together all right going up against one another and you don’t care to compete why should we watch I mean if

You looked at Adam Silva give away some of give away the troest he looked disgusted I know the NBA was disgusted most of the fans have been disgusted listen to talk radio this morning everybody’s going off about how bad it is we’ve been seeing it for years they

Don’t seem to care so maybe we should stop camon Shannon that’s what I wanted to say I agree with everything that you just said um it’s coming I mean it’s not as bad as the Pro Bowl because the Pro Bowl you have tackling football and it’s

Kind of hard to play twoand touch but when you look at it Stephen A it’s basically morphed into layups dunks and threes yeah and there is a blatant disregard for the game you right you can get a better run in UCLA than you can an All-Star Game these are supposed these

Are not supposed these are the best players in the world and that is ridiculous and yeah I get it the people in an attendance yeah they oo and on but that’s not what the viewing audience is saying that’s not because I remember in the Pro Bowl I was there one year and

They started it kind of and and and Stephen A I don’t know exactly when right it started to get to this maybe it was 2017 maybe it was 2018 where the blatant lack of disregard and and maybe they wern’t always sitting in the chair we get that and that’s not what we’re

Asking you to do but just just try just pretend like you CL care don’t come with the blatant disregard that you’ve shown for the All-Star game over the last four to five years they scored the West SC excuse me the E scored 50 points in every single quarter now you tell me

There was any effort involved in that there was no effort involved in that and Adam Silver has every right Stephen A I believe the dunk contest is run its course there I mean at some point in time all things must come to an end and maybe the dunk contest has come to an

End for the simple fact the stars are no longer participating the Dominique’s the Dr JS the Michael Jordan the uh Kobe Bryant’s all the Larry nany guys were actually in the All-Star game that was participating in the dunk contest and the guys that that weren’t in the All-Star games they were known as

Dunkers Daryl Griffith from Utah Dr Duncan Stein you had Kenny Skywalker that’s right so you had guys that were known these hello the only guy really I that I knew was was uh jayen Brown and M mclung M excuse me m mclung and he deserved the win he deser he was he was

He was better but hold on you got guys jumping over Taco Aaron Gordon jumped over Taco Fall Matt mclung jumped over Shaq Jay Le Bren jumped over K NLC what am I supposed to do with that Stephen A they should have gave him a two across the board the

Man’s already already 3 foot tall you put him in a chair 91 915 and Jaylen Brown dumped over here him and he got 40 plus points really Stephen A and the thing is the guys it to in today’s game the word Zack LaVine the way uh uh Aaron

Gordon is taking it it’s all about creative Jaylen Brown is a power dunan he’s not a creative dunker he’s a power dunker but I don’t know Stephen A I don’t know they’re gonna have to get in the room the uh uh the NBA PA Adam Silver because the way it’s being played

Right now the guys are making too much money to care about a 100,000 or 200,000 or whatever The Winning Side is is is is is getting for winning this game something that’s very very uncomfortable to say but somebody need to say it so I’m G to say it you

Know we have been all for player empowerment we know that no matter what sport you pick um and it’s appr propo that in Indianapolis you see some player empowerment because the NCAA resides there and we know how many years they’ve spent exploiting the student athlete and

Now they come up and say a red courtesy of the trade you know the transfer portal and the and all of this stuff right so we get that part but the flip side to it is that when we talked about player empowerment we also talked and we never ever debated the issue of

Appreciation because we never thought we’d have to in other words with great power comes great responsibility and we assume that people embrace it you talk about that in terms of when you were playing and how you were a leader and you would literally Inspire the guys and

You talk about and you look at them and you say just make sure it ain’t you just don’t let it be you you talk about that and then we see players coming on this show and one of the things you never hesitate whether it’s on this show it’s

On night cap it’s on Club Shay Shay you never hesitate to espouse your words of wisdom and advice based on your experience as a champion and a Hall of Famer you get that so something along the line there was a Shannon sharp that said yo I’ve done this I’ve achieved

This and with that came great responsibility not only as a player but ultimately as a spokesperson in the aftermath of my playing career and I have not found one single player in the NFL past or present who has ever debated anything that you’ve said in regards to what your leadership entailed so I

Appreciate that so you can understand where I’m coming from when I say where’s that from the players for Allstar Weekend where’s that from the players where you’re saying you know what this is on us y’all we know we play harder than this we play more competitive than

This what we going to do to change that this ain’t about the League this ain’t about administrative issues this ain’t about collective bargaining this is about you as an individual saying yo when Kobe and others were on the court like yo let’s compete that’s all not to

The degree of a regular season or a playoff game but at least to the degree of Summer League Play they won’t don’t even do that and it comes across as you snubbing your nose and when it comes across that way why would it come across that way because you have the power to

Get away with it and it’s abusive and that is what has happened and it has elevated a level of disgust that is coming in their Direction not all okay but some of them but collectively because y’all on the court together you going to take the brunt of this you’re

Going to get your money you gonna get your shine and all of this other stuff but folks ain’t gonna forget it because that effort last night nearly 400 points being scored that is an embarrassment it is a travesty and anybody that participated in that game last night

Should be ashamed of their damn selves it’s just that Stephen let me Stephen let me know let let me know if you agree with me sure it seems to me and this is what happened in the Pro Bowl and I I think it’s starting to happen in in the

Uh NBA and the All-Star game I think the players love the idea of being selected but they have no interest in playing yes and their effort shows you once you get to the game once guys got started going and they started playing two-hand touch when you’re playing tackle football I

Like and I remember I remember tweeting this I said it’s only going to be a matter of time I say because the owners are not going to continuously foot this bill when you putting this kind of effort out and it seems to me the same

Thing it is an indeed an indeed an honor for players like I’m an Allstar a eight time a 10 time a 15 you see LeBron has started 20 consecutive all have 20 consecutive Allstar starts but it appears to me and maybe I’m the only one but it seems like guys are interested in

Being selected but have no desire or no interest in playing in that Game