The 2024-25 season might not make it to the list of greatest seasons in NBA history, and rightly so, it has raised more questions than answers. This year for the NBA has been a balance between fairytale and nightmare of storylines and the All-Star Weekend was no different. With all the money put in to encourage players, and bring back fans, the new format did generate some excitement. But what was supposed to be a celebratory event ended up with a swarm of backlash, leading some players to stand up and take one for the team.

Amid all the debate and criticism among the fans, Kevin Durant tried to give this conversation a different turn. Sharing his opinion on X, he said, “I think it’s more fun to complain about the nba than to actually watch it. Crazy, cancel all star weekend and let’s just give everybody a break since we’re so miserable around this time…”

Kevin believes that for fans criticizing the league has become more entertaining rather than enjoying the events. While it may sound absurd, one solution could be to scrap the All-Star Weekend. As per him, this would give everyone a break considering the NBA isn’t doing well.

It seems like KD’s post in X fueled the ongoing fire and it broke the internet garnering 3 million views within an hour! Hitting the bull’s eye, it engaged both fans and analysts in the conversation about the state of the game. The flood of comments began, and why not? Silver tried to revive it, but it didn’t click, so the only option now is? We are not here to comment. Let’s take a look at some reactions to see what the internet is saying.

What does the internet think of Kevin Durant’s statements?

By the time this piece was finished, the engagement on Kevin Durant’s tweet reached up to 6 million impressions. And that just reveals that people were not happy with the hoopster’s remarks. One of the highest-rated remarks was, “KD… today’s a day off for yall I am asking you to rewatch the FULL live broadcast – with the unreal amount of commercials, breaks, everything else, today Watch it from your couch. And see if you can watch the full event straight through And it was an ALL STAR GAME. Not ideal”

This response primarily sums up the issue, highlighting where it all went wrong. In the last 7 years, the league has experienced a sharp decline in TV viewership nearly halving from an 11.3 rating in 2017 to just 5.8 in 2024. In an attempt to offset this decline, this year’s broadcast aired more commercials compared to the previous editions, ruining the viewing experience of the fans.

Another netizen said, “But you can’t give people 30 mins of basketball and 2 hrs of other stuff and expect them to not complain tho. A lot of people loved the format, loved the competition, they just hated the all the extra stuff that was there….majority of the time just was commercials lol” While this remark also raises the issues with commercials, it’s majorly focused on the extras of the game. In the era of overexposure to media platforms, the league tried to increase the entertainment bits with celebrated comedian Kevin Hart and in-game segues, however, this move was panned by fans as they felt it was excessive and made the game boring instead of entertaining them.

One user said, “It’s not complaining to say the east vs west all star format is 100 times better than what we got last night . Just facts”. Among all the other efforts, Adam Silver was quite ambitious about changing this year’s format to a 4 team mini-tournament. Initially drawing a lot of criticism from both fans and players, the outrage cooled down with time with fans being hopeful for this new format. However, this new format wasn’t well received by most basketball enthusiasts.

Another netizen added, “do you think all star weekend being hosted once every other year would help the hype around it?” This simply questions KD’s remarks, raising a thought that even if the league began hosting the All-Star Weekend at alternate years, will all current issues plaguing the game will vanish or not?

Contrary to the ongoing backlash, one fan remarked, “I enjoyed it! I hope you see this and know you’re appreciated for the hard work man. Don’t read the comments cuz at the end of the day your hard work and family only matter. Stay blessed.” While a majority of the basketball community seemed upset about whatever happened this year, their remark comes as a surprise revealing not all fans were negative about the changes.

While it’s clear that Adam Silver’s initiatives did not land well among the basketball community with fans and analysts saying alike. Even though Kevin came out in support of the league, and tried to steer away the negative remarks, he got caught in the wave of backlash. On a more positive side, this reveals that the fans are still passionate about the game and not shy to voice their opinions. While the league is still trying to experiment and try new things, and with next year’s media rights transfer taking place, we are hopeful that fans get what they want.