Durant Believes There is a Double Standard Between Americans and European Players

Everyone can admit that the NBA All-Star Game is terrible. For years now, the players haven’t tried hard at all during the game, and the product has suffered. No longer do we get to see the best of the best go at each other to prove who is the league's best. Now we get a sloppy pickup game where players may as well be wearing sweatpants and headphones. 

Many believe the reason that players no longer care about the All-Star Game is that the most recent generation of stars just stopped caring about it. Many blame guys like LeBron James and Kevin Durant for not continuing the competitive legacy from past stars like Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan. 

However, Durant doesn’t believe that it’s solely the American stars who have been the problem. 

"You should ask the Europeans and the World team if they're going to compete…If you look at Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic now, let's go back and look at what they do in the All-Star Game. Is that competition? So, we haven't questioned what they've been doing. But we're going to question the old heads and the Americans. "But these two dudes out there, Luka and Jokic, they don't care about the game at all. These dudes be laying on the floor. They're shooting from half court. But you've got to worry about the old heads playing hard? I can read between the lines, bro. It's just an overall topic that everybody's been talking about."

It’s true that guys like Jokic and Doncic don’t try in the All-Star game either. However, they entered a league where guys hadn’t been trying in the game for years. Can they really be to blame for not changing the game's intensity? 

Unfortunately, regardless of who is at fault, the fans lose. The All-Star game used to be must-watch TV for basketball fans and one of the more entertaining games of the year. Now it’s of little interest to anyone who cares about watching real quality basketball.