NBA Influencer Exposes Embarrassing Crowd at NBA All-Star Weekend
Over the weekend in San Francisco, Calif., the NBA hosted its All-Star Weekend.
In the ensuing days, have been quite critical of the entire weekend. Fans scoffed at the Slam Dunk Contest, which has now seen Mac McClung win three times despite appearing in just five NBA games since debuting in the 2021-22 season. On top of that, the integrity of the Kia Skills Challenge was thrown to the wayside by Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama, who purposely threw up shots without effort for timing purposes before being disqualified.
The lackluster product led to much criticism online, and also led to a key figure in the community revealing just how disappointing the event was as a whole.
NBA content creator Rachel DeMita, who has been featured in NBA2K and appeared in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, revealed just how empty the Chase Center was that night to add to the already brutal showing.
"We were in a suite for the Saturday night events," DeMita said. "So I could see the entire 100s level...It was probably 60-70%, maybe 70% full. And I have never in the nine All-Stars that I've been to I've never witnessed that for an All-Star Saturday night.
Television personality Rachel DeMita during the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
DeMita later revealed that the emcee had to go to dramatic lengths to excite the crowd.
"The in-arena host ... was begging the fans to get hype for these players," DeMita said. "Like I felt sad. I was like, 'I'm about to cry. I'm about to cry in this suite.' Because how did we get this point when you go to a city like San Francisco that has such a rabid fanbase and they're not even selling out the arena?"
Saturday night wasn't the only flop, as even Sunday's NBA All-Star Game itself, which the league modified to a four-team tournament rather than just one game, didn't appear to have great energy or get rave reviews from fans or players. A video on X before the signing of the national anthems showed large sections of the arena empty.
On top of that, NBA finals MVP and Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown even highlighted the lack of fan support when asked about the event possibly held in Boston.
"I think the city (Boston) is equipped for it," Brown said. "I think the fans got the you know, craziest fans in the world in Boston. So I'm sure that they would enjoy it. It kind of seemed like it was a little empty in here tonight. I don't think in Boston that would happen."
In a year where there are major concerns over declining ratings, the league's biggest weekend being talked about by huge influencers and stars certainly as a flop certainly isn't what the NBA would have hoped for.
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