It's been 30 years since Salt Lake City had the opportunity to host NBA All-Star Weekend. SLC was hardly recognizable. You may think that it was only about the NBA. You'd be wrong.
SLC took this chance to show off the many wonders Utah had to offer. Parties, concerts, snowboarding, and more all took place. This weekend meant more than just showing off the biggest stars in Basketball.
In fact, this weekend took a "nobody" and turned him into one of the NBA's biggest names.
You probably heard about Mac McClung and the Dunk Contest. Many, including myself, thought that this years Dunk Contest was going to be a massive dud. We couldn't have been more wrong.
The highlights from McClungs massive dunks recieved 512 Million views in the first 12 hours. That's on par with most Marvel Studio Trailers. A few weeks ago McClung wasn't even technically in the NBA. He was in the G-League. Now, he's a house hold name.
He wasn't the only bright side of NBA All-Star Weekend. Local favorite and Weber State Alum, Damian Lillard took home the 3-Point Contest trophy. Third times the charm, Dame.
All that was just Saturday.
The actual All-Star game started strong with another local favorite, Post Malone. While he only performed 2 songs, you can't have an event this big in Utah and not feature Posty.
This years All-Star game was different. Team Captains LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo drafted their team's live "playground" style.
Now here is the part that irritates me. Taking the Jazz's very own Lauri Markkanen last. I get it's a "competition" but you got to have some respect for the home crowd.
So, like I said, things started off strong, but then quickly went down hill. The game it's self was lackluster. You'd think a game ending in a score of 184-174 would have been more fun. The game was just seeing who could hit the longer 3-point shot (the answer is Damian Lillard). How do you make a meaningless game more entertaining? I'm not sure but thats not my job to figure out.
All in all, for Utah, it was a very successful weekend. The event help boom the local economy and shed light on local issues.
The question now is, will we have to wait another 30 years to host it again?