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WFAN Daily

All-Star Game That Actually Worked?! Plus Wild Ideas to Fix Tanking | Evan & Tiki

WFAN Daily

Audacy

Sports

3.8794 Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The NBA tried something completely different… and it might have saved All-Star Weekend. From the early start time designed for a global audience to the fast, tournament-style format that turned every possession into crunch time, this year’s game delivered something fans haven’t felt in years: real competition.


But not everything landed. Why did the championship game fall flat? Did splitting Team USA into “young” and “old” backfire? And why did some stars seem way more invested than others?


The conversation then shifts to the bigger picture. Commissioner Adam Silver is openly searching for ways to eliminate tanking, and the proposed solutions range from intriguing to absolutely insane. A postseason tournament for lottery teams? Guaranteeing playoff spots AND top picks? Or blowing up the entire system by abolishing the draft altogether?


Plus, the crew reacts to LeBron’s comments on the USA vs. World format, debates whether All-Star Games are really just for kids now, and explores why fans crave entertainment in the moment but quickly forget the results.


If you care about where the NBA is heading, this one’s packed with ideas, arguments, and a few takes that could reshape the future of pro sports.

Transcript

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0:30.1

I watched more of the All-Star game than I have in 20 years.

0:34.7

It was hard not to, dude.

0:36.0

It was compelling.

0:36.9

Now, interestingly, I think a lot of

0:39.1

people, including Sean, were taken aback by how early it started. Yeah, that was a surprise. Who knew?

0:45.6

It was 2 o'clock West Coast and 5 o'clock East Coast times. It was like, wait, this thing is

0:50.6

starting already. Now, the final didn't go off until 710 or 715 or something. Right. But the basketball itself, the round-robin tournament from the Stars and Stripes and the World Team, it was pretty early. And I was wondering, Sean was like, why did they do this so early? It's easy to know why. International. It's a world team. I don't even thinking of that. So it's a world team, so they want people in Europe to be able to watch it. I took it as NBC had the Olympics at prime time at 8 o'clock. No, but the Olympics are already, the Olympics are played in time delay. That's true. That's true. It's already happened. They should do this then. Bring the whole world day.

1:28.0

Let's play early.

1:28.9

I had another reason why I thought it was so early. I thought because all-star games are truly for kids. Like when we all scream and yell about it, old heads start saying, ah, get rid of the old-star game. It's terrible. What we have to realize is it's not for us. Like when I just said I hadn't watched an All-Star game in 20 years, yeah, when I was a kid, I loved it.

1:46.6

I loved it in baseball.

1:47.5

I loved it in baseball. I loved it in

1:47.9

basketball. I even tolerated the pro ball in the NFL. So it's for kids. So if you're going to have an event that's really for children, why would you have it at 8 o'clock at night? That's right. You may as well have it at 5 o'clock. But I thought what made this brilliant, and I watched it very open-minded because I didn't go in loving it. I didn't go in thinking this was going to be great. I went in knowing, okay, this is unique. They're playing four different games. There's three different teams. I mentioned you on Friday. I thought it was odd how they split Team USA up from what they're calling young to what they're calling old, but I was open-minded.

2:19.6

And that's the thing in life about being open-minded.

2:22.4

I went in there not expecting much.

2:24.4

I went in there thinking I was going to shut it off after five minutes.

2:27.4

And what I watched was like two teams.

2:30.4

It was USA Stars, that's the younger team versus the world.

2:35.3

I watched them actually compete. And because it was only a 12-minute game, and this is where I think they really

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