Watch the 70th NBA All-Star Game, along with the Dunk Contest, 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge live from 11.30pm on Sky Sports Arena this Sunday
Saturday 6 March 2021 16:52, UK
Nearly 30 years on, the Dream Team's impact in Barcelona during the 1992 Olympics is making the NBA All-Star Game an international affair.
Ralph Rivera would know. As NBA Europe and Middle East managing director, he has overseen the league’s operations on this side of the Atlantic in recent years, which coincides with the biggest European representation at the 2021 NBA All-Star Game ever this Sunday.
"I think you can trace back the big bang of the NBA to the Dream Team in 1992," he said.
Seeing Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and the rest of the best players in the world visit Barcelona was the biggest story of the Olympic Games that year. The excitement was captured on VHS tapes that were sold around the world, and immortalised in books such as Dream Team by Jack McCallum, and it inspired so much change in the basketball world.
In 1993, Detlef Schrempf became the first European All-Star. In 1994, the NBA opened its first European office. And the league started bringing over more players that had impressed on the international stage, such as Toni Kukoc.
Rivera told Sky Sports: “Pau Gasol talked about the fact that it happened in his hometown and inspired him and a generation of kids like him to follow the players and the league.”
This had a knock-on effect for some of this year’s All-Stars.
Tony Parker’s hero was Michael Jordan, after seeing His Airness compete at the Olympics. The Frenchman went on to make the All-Star game six times during his illustrious NBA career, and his French national teammate is now following in those international footsteps. Rudy Gobert will play in his second consecutive game this week.
While speaking to Sky Sports, the Utah Jazz big man said: “When I started playing basketball I knew nothing about the NBA at first, and then after a few years when I started becoming more serious about the game, I started to tell myself that one day I’d like to play in the NBA, and the fact that we already had a few French players in the league made it look more real for me and for all the young kids in France who dream about making it to the league.
"It quickly became my main goal and my dream.”
Not only is Gobert now a two-time All-Star, but he has won the Defensive Player of the Year Award twice, and is even receiving MVP buzz this season as one of the best players on the top team in the league so far.
He said: “When I came into this league, my goal wasn’t just to be content about being in the NBA. I knew that I wanted to accomplish some things in this league. I didn’t know how far I was going to be able to go, but I knew I wanted to be a great player. As you know, I was able to get better and better, and I realised that I could be the best defensive player in the world and one of the best players in the world, and I always wanted to win a championship.”
Gobert is not the only Euro breaking barriers.
Rivera said: “One of the themes of the last 25 years has been the globalisation of the league. Europe has played a significant role in that, so when you see that we have six All-Stars, which includes a two-time MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo, Defensive Player of the Year with Rudy Gobert, Rookie of the Year with Luka Doncic, and the season that Nikola Jokic is having in MVP contention, it’s just incredible.”
Despite being excited about the growth of Europe’s fanbase and the improving talent of its players, Rivera doesn’t think there will be an All-Star game on the continent any time soon. But there is hope that the NBA Europe games, and maybe even a WNBA Europe game, will be back on the cards soon.
The celebrations will still look different this year. The coronavirus pandemic has changed the programme of events from what has become nearly a week-long affair in the past decade and condensed it into one day.
Rivera said: “We take very seriously the health and safety of not just our players, but our staff and the entire NBA family. That is always our number one priority. We wouldn’t do anything that we thought would create significant risk and in fact, we believe that folks inside the mini bubble we will be creating will be better off inside than out of that bubble.
“We are condensing all of the activities into one day to minimise the amount of time we’re spending. It’s not a ticketed event. We’re not having any activations. We’re discouraging fans from coming to Atlanta, so from a health and safety perspective, we’re doing everything we can to make sure people are going to be OK.”
The Rookie-Sophomore Rising Stars Challenge won’t be taking place, though the league did announce rosters last week, and the celebrity game won’t be happening. But the skills challenge, the three-point competition and the dunk contest will all take place on Sunday.
“The reason to have it is the All-Star Game is our number one fan engagement,” Rivera admitted.
“What we do, what everyone does, is for our fans. This is a tradition that’s gone on for 70 years. It’s a celebration of the game and the best players in the world, and it’s something that our fans want to see.
“For the All-Star Game, we’re going to have a focus on historically black colleges and universities. There will be a donation to HBCUs. There will also be participation in terms of entertainment. Folks who have never seen a step show from some of the Black fraternities and communities are in for a treat, because that's going to be part of the entertainment as well.”
The NBA will make the most of what it can do this year to support charitable causes and promote the game. With its broadest European talent base yet, and building on the success of the Elam ending last year, the league is set for another fun All-Star event.
Watch the 70th NBA All-Star Game, along with the Dunk Contest, 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge live from 11.30pm on Sky Sports Arena this Sunday
