The NBA All Star was scheduled this year to be held in Indianapolis. The situation of the pandemic in the United States meant that in December, when the season calendar was made official, the annual event with the best players in the league was suspended. The number of people (players, coaches, managers, sponsors, journalists, fans) who travel to the organizing city at the same time made its celebration unfeasible. However, despite the fact that 22 regular league games have already had to be suspended due to COVID-19, the league wants at least the All-Star Game to be played.
The idea that the NBA and the NBPA are discussing is to play only the All Star Game in Atlanta, during the break that the NBA put in the middle of the calendar to divide the regular season into two halves. Of the second part of this, by the way, the matches or dates are not yet known and in that period all the matches that are now being suspended will have to be included. In any case, that stoppage is scheduled to take place between March 5 and 10 and, if the All Star game ends, it will be on Sunday 7.
All this information was advanced on ESPN by Adrian Wojnarowski, who assured that Chris Paul, president of the players’ association, is one of the promoters of the idea. And why Atlanta? Well, because there is the Turner Sports headquarters, the chain that has the broadcasting rights, and this would make it easier for its workers to attend the event without having to change city. As for Indianapolis, the initially proposed venue for this year’s All Star, the NBA has already announced that it will host the 2024 edition, the first that has not yet been hosted. The next few years the event will be held in Cleveland (2022) and Salt Lake City (2023).
