I love the NBA, but it is no secret that the NBA All-Star Weekend has been a massive bust over the last few years. What was once an electric game filled with the top talent of the NBA has turned into a boring, overly long event that feels like a chore to watch.

Fans have been asking for a change,  and  the  NBA  tried  to shake things up this year with a new format. However, the changes made little impact.

Meanwhile,  the  Four  Nations Face-Off, a new format for the NHL All-Star Weekend, stole the show with its intense competition and thrilling action.

Since the creation of the NBA All-Star game in 1951, the game has been played with either the traditional East vs. West format or a two-team draft, with the best players  from  each  conference playing  in  a  traditional  four- quarter game.

This  year,  NBA  Commissioner Adam  Silver  introduced  a  four team  mini-tournament  consisting of three all-star teams and a team of  NBA  rising  stars.  Instead  of playing four quarters, each game was played to 40 points.

While this year’s All-Star game was better than last year’s, there were  still  problems.  By  far  the biggest problem was the amount of basketball actually played during the event.

In  a  three-hour  event,  only 42 minutes were actually spent playing basketball. There were excessive advertisements, fanfare, and even a tribute for the television show Inside the NBA. This disrupted the flow of the games, making the night seem more like a drawn-out TV event than a showcase of the NBA’s top talent.

Another major issue was the lack of effort from the players. Some players  were  competitive  and played to win, but most players did not.

I understand that NBA players are busy, tired, and do not want to risk injury, but if that is the case, the NBA needs to find a way to incentivize them to care or stop forcing them to play.

The NHL Four Nations Face-Off was everything the NBA All-Star was  not. The  event  was  intense, entertaining,  and  filled  with  real competition. This tournament also introduced a new format, bringing together the best players from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and Finland.

The tournament was round-robin style,  with  each  nation  playing three games in total. During this part  of  the  tournament,  teams earned three points for a regulation win,  two  points  for  an  overtime win, one point for an overtime loss, and no points for a regulation loss. Then, the top two teams (in this case, the U.S. and Canada), played in the championship to determine the Face-Off winner.

The game ended in a 3-2 overtime win for Team Canada. Having lost the prior matchup 3-1 in the round- robin portion of the tournament, Canada came in with confidence and  energy.  In  the  end,  center Conner   McDavid   scored   the winning  goal  8:18  minutes  into overtime.

The event was a massive success, viewed by over 16 million people. This is significantly more than any other NHL all-star game in recent years. Even I, someone who never watches hockey, was fully invested in the game.

Now that both events are over, it is time for the NBA to consider some  changes.  They  cannot continue to hold a boring all-star event that is pulling in fewer and fewer viewers each year.

A  possible  solution  involves learning from the success of the Four  Nations  Face-Off.  Part of the reason why this event was so competitive was because players were competing for their countries. This naturally brought out more of  their  pride  and  effort,  and encouraged them to play hard.

While  the  NBA  cannot  fully copy  the  NHL’s  format,  because most basketball talent is from the U.S., it could hold a U.S. vs. the World game. This idea has been discussed by fans for years, and many  players,  including  Giannis Antetokounmpo, have also voiced their support.

If the NBA does not want to change the format of the game, another way to make the event more fun would be to focus on the parts of all-star weekend that still get fans excited.

For example, the dunk contest, which suffered for a few years, has been revived by young stars such as Mac McClung. If the NBA can find a way to convince big stars to join the dunk contest, more fans would watch.

Additionally,   improving   the three-point  contest  and  skills challenge could improve the event. Ultimately,  the  NBA  All-Star Weekend  needs  to  change,  and learning from the recent success of the NHL Four Nations Face-Off would not be a bad start.