And considering all that it led to the lockout lasting a little longer probably wouldn’t have been so bad.
With the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement up in the air, many NBA players looked for alternative forms of income. New Jersey star Deron Williams was one of the first to look overseas, signing with Turkish club Besiktas for one year and $5 million. Some of the other high-profile stars weren’t quite so desperate but still needed a little something to tide them over.
So Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and a mix of veterans and young stars packed their bags and trooped to the Philippines for a pair of exhibition games against a PBA selection and the national team.
Yeah, I still pinch myself every now and then to make sure that it really happened. To put things in proper perspective: That was nuts.
Seriously, it was nuts. Look, the NBA has been bringing their preseason to Europe and China the past few years and even they don’t see as many All-Stars under one roof. The event was such a big deal that Sports Illustrated pointed to the event as a model for players to survive the lockout, while Grantland devoted a longform feature on how the weekend came together.
Barring another lockout, we aren’t likely to see an event like this anytime soon. And that’s what makes the SMART Ultimate All-Star Weekend really special. CBA negotiations happen once every six years and sometimes, like in 2005, negotiations wrap up quickly. That means we might have experienced a once-in-a-few-decades kind of game.
And what made it more fun was that the NBA players seemed to have genuinely enjoyed their trip here just as much as we enjoyed having them.
The players were treated like rock stars wherever they went. JaVale McGee did some on-court planking. Paul showed off his boxing footwork for Manny Pacquiao during a timeout late in one of the games. Bryant and Pacman shared a lengthy conversation. Bryant and McGee also reportedly missed a press conference when they diverted their car from an official function to do some shopping.
For a basketball-crazy nation like ours, this was nothing short of a dream come true, and hands-down, the Event of the Year.
source by Mikkel Bolante · image by InterAKTV/Markku Seguerra
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