Tuesday, November 26
    vertshock.com
    NBA

    No, the WNBA All-Star Game shouldn’t overlap with NBA Summer League

    No Comments6 Mins Read

    As we get further out from the WNBA All-Star festivities that
    were held in Chicago, I find myself a little annoyed with how
    things were handled. I personally had a good time, but there were
    enough issues in terms of fan accessibility that left a bit of a
    sour taste in my mouth. There’s room for better, and we should all
    strive and root for better.

    In the context of striving for better, there’s been plenty of
    conversation around how The W can improve its weekend festivities.
    Announcing the actual participants of the Skills Challenge and
    Three-Point Shootout earlier would help; inviting players that
    aren’t already planning to be there — there’s no reason Sparks
    guard Lexie Brown, shooting 44.2% from three on 4.0 attempts per
    game, shouldn’t have been in the contest — would also be nice!

    The conversation has gone bigger-picture now. A common ask
    gaining more steam publicly: Hosting All-Star weekend in Las Vegas
    — home of the Las Vegas Aces — while overlapping with Summer League
    play.

    There were some pretty big co-signers on that suggestion from
    Arash Markazi. He got an “I like this take” response from New York Liberty
    star Sabrina Ionescu. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James quote tweeted with “Such a great
    idea!!!!!!” to his near-52 million followers. Aces star Kelsey Plum
    was asked about the idea during a segment on ESPN’s “NBA Today” on
    Friday, and she offered her support.

    “I’m a little bit biased, obviously, because I’m in Vegas,” Plum
    begins. “But I think it would be a tremendous idea.”

    “We understand that summer and basketball is Las
    Vegas. We have Summer League; there are a bunch of AAU tournaments
    for boys and girls. Coaches meet up there. A lot of teams do
    training camp out there. So I think, why not have a basketball
    mecca in Vegas every summer, highlighting the best female athletes
    in the world? I can’t think of a better opportunity, and I know the
    Aces — specifically [owner] Mark Davis — would support that
    heavily.”

    The following day, the WNBPA Twitter account shared its support of Plum’s
    statement with a quote-tweet of their own.

    While I truly understand the sentiment, it’s hard for me to get
    past the optics of using All-Star weekend as an appetizer for
    Summer League.

    Rolling with the “opening weekend” idea from Markazi, that would
    fall within the window of top prospects playing. We normally see
    the lottery picks play for the first two games, sometimes three
    games, before getting shut down. Would the NBA be willing to
    schedule the “marquee matchups” later in the evening to clear out
    blocks for those events?

    Even if that’s doable, again, think of what that message is. For
    a league still trying to improve it’s reputation, having the NBA
    say, “Let’s make sure the Keegan Murray-Chet Holmgren matchup is at
    7 p.m. Pacific time so The W has room to showcase literal
    legends of the sport    ” just seems… off to me.

    That’s no disrespect to any of the NBA’s top five picks; they
    just don’t, or shouldn’t, hold more weight than Sylvia Fowles, Sue
    Bird and potentially Candace Parker playing in their last All-Star
    games. They don’t hold more weight than those three, period.

    What the move-things-to-Vegas-during-Summer-League idea feels
    like, to me, is a way to make things easier on media. That’s not
    inherently a bad thing; sports don’t grow at their maximum capacity
    without (good) media coverage, and that coverage isn’t done well
    without access. But in media, and honestly in life, people make
    time and put in effort for the things they care about. 

    Personally, I went to Vegas for the opening games for Summer
    League, flew to Chicago for All-Star festivities, then came back to
    Vegas for more SL coverage. That’s a blessing and an opportunity I
    don’t take lightly, of course; but ultimately, I
    wanted to do that.

    I’m both a Summer League Sicko and someone who loves The W, so I
    made it a priority to cover both. I also wasn’t the only media
    member to attend both All-Star and Summer League festivities. And I
    surely wasn’t the only media member to cover Summer League things
    and another basketball event. 

    There was a media presence at the Drew League this weekend. When
    LeBron and DeMar DeRozan pop on the
    scene and play on the same team, people want to
    see that — and rightfully so! Once word started circulating that
    they’d be in attendance, the NBA even accomodated fans by providing
    a stream to watch through the NBA app.

    To be clear: There is nothing at all wrong with that. But it
    also serves as (further) proof that Summer League isn’t some
    unsolvable impediment if basketball coverage is wanted (or needed)
    elsewhere.

    Heck, the “beauty” of Summer League — if you want to call it
    that — is that there are 11 days of hoops! You can miss a day or
    two and still get your fix in. And unlike The W sometimes (love
    y’all, but please), Summer League games are pretty easy to find on
    TV.

    I’m not opposed to festivities being moved to Vegas in a vacuum.
    It’s a great host city, and 2019’s All-Star festivities were
    well-received by all accounts. I just don’t think overlap is the
    answer. If you really want to use The W as an opener, set the stage
    for them completely. Maintain the Saturday-Sunday combo for
    All-Star festivities (July 9 and 10 in this case), then kick off
    Summer League on the 11th.

    That gives them the platform they deserve, while also allowing
    media and fans alike to get into Vegas during the weekend. As many
    visiting media members will tell you, there’s a three-,
    maybe four-day max on a Vegas trip before losing your
    mind, melting or both. Flying in on Friday and leaving out on
    Monday or Tuesday would give you room to cover All-Star weekend
    while also catching the lottery picks before they’re shut down.

    When we’re having these discussions of improving the WNBA, in
    any aspect, I want us to be sure that we’re prioritizing the league
    itself. It’s felt too much like people are looking for ways to keep
    the WNBA from inconveniencing them. I don’t think that’s fair to
    anyone involved. 

    Related Posts

    Add A Comment

    Leave A Reply