NBA announces 2019 All-Star game will held in Charlotte

By STEVE REED
Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) The NBA All-Star game is headed back to Charlotte in 2019, a couple of years longer than anticipated.

The NBA announced that the All-Star weekend will be held Feb. 15-17 in Charlotte and the game will be played at the Spectrum Center, home of the Charlotte Hornets.

The league had selected Charlotte to host the 2017 All-Star game, but later moved the game to New Orleans because of the state law restricting the rights of LGBT people. However, a compromise was struck in March to partially erase the impact of the House Bill 2 law limiting anti-discrimination protections for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people.

"While we understand the concerns of those who say the repeal of HB2 did not go far enough, we believe the recent legislation eliminates the most egregious aspects of the prior law," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a release. "Additionally, it allows us to work with the leadership of the Hornets organization to apply a set of equality principles to ensure that every All-Star event will proceed with open access and anti-discrimination policies.

"All venues, hotels and businesses we work with during All-Star will adhere to these policies as well. Sports have a long history of helping to change attitudes around important social issues. We believe holding our All-Star activities in Charlotte will be a powerful way for the NBA to continue this tradition."

Hornets owner and longtime NBA great Michael Jordan said in a release he is "thrilled" the game is coming back to Charlotte.

"We want to thank Commissioner Silver for his leadership throughout this process and for the decision to bring NBA All-Star back to Buzz City," Jordan said in the release. "All-Star Weekend is an international event that will provide a tremendous economic impact to our community while showcasing our city, our franchise and our passionate Hornets fan base to people around the world."

Charlotte previously hosted the All-Star game in 1991 at the Charlotte Coliseum, which has since been demolished.

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AP source: NBA board to discuss Charlotte as All-Star host

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) – A person with knowledge of the plans says the NBA will discuss whether to bring the 2019 All-Star Game to Charlotte at its Board of Governors meeting this week.

The person tells The Associated Press that the NBA board was already planning to discuss the matter at its meeting Thursday, though it's not known if a decision will be made. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the board's agenda is not publicized.

The league pulled this year's All-Star event out of Charlotte and it went to New Orleans instead. The NBA had it said it hoped the All-Star game could go to Charlotte in 2019 if changes were made to a North Carolina law that limited anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay and transgender people.

North Carolina has repealed the "bathroom bill" and replaced it with a compromise law. The NCAA said Tuesday it would again consider the state as a host for championship events.

The 2018 All-Star Game is already set for Los Angeles.

Adam Silver says NBA All-Star format will change for 2018

Stats, LLC

Change is coming to the defense-optional All-Star Game, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wants to hear ideas.

Silver and players’ union President Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers have spoken about how to make the game more competitive. No decisions have been made, but the Western Conference’s 192-182 win over the Eastern Conference last month in New Orleans underlined such a need.

Some All-Stars said that night they would like to see a more authentic game, and the league apparently agrees.

”We will change it by next year,” Silver said. ”It shouldn’t be playoff intensity, but the guys should be playing.”

Next year’s game is in Los Angeles.

Silver spoke Friday at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, hosted by MIT. He even shared an email address – Adam(at)NBA.com – in case anyone wants to share suggestions with him.

”You hear people talking about 4-point shots, something that’s not about to happen in the NBA, but maybe in an All-Star Game,” Silver said. ”Maybe there’s a few spots on the floor where it’s a 4-point shot. Maybe there’s a halfcourt shot in the last minute that’s 10 points. I don’t know. Those are crazy ideas.”

New Orleans’ Anthony Davis scored an All-Star record 52 points in this year’s game, 10 points more than the mark by Wilt Chamberlain that stood for 55 years. The West has flirted with 200 points in each of the last two seasons – 196 in 2016, 192 this year. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 12 dunks by himself, and LeBron James was taking (and once, made) shots from the midcourt area.

”We collectively want to try to make All-Star weekend better for the fans,” Paul told reporters in Milwaukee on Friday. ”All the way around. Even in CBA talks and stuff like that, that was one of the things that the players, the owners and everybody was talking about. Trying to fix that, spice it up a little bit to keep it interesting.”

Bucks coach Jason Kidd, a perennial All-Star as a player, is confident the league will find the right fix.

”Adam’s a very smart man,” Kidd said, ”and they’ll figure it out.”

For this year’s game, the voting process was changed – fan votes were no longer the sole basis for selecting starters, but instead part of a formula that also took player and media balloting into account. The player-voting element in particular was criticized by some NBA coaches like Golden State’s Steve Kerr, who said it wasn’t taken as seriously as it should have been.

”In an All-Star game like this, guys aren’t trying to get hurt,” Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving said after the All-Star Game. ”We all enjoy the company of each other’s presence. But at the same token, us as competitors, when it starts getting close, you can feel it. For me, I would love to play in a competitive game.”

NBA Statement Regarding 2017 NBA All-Star Game

NEW YORK — The NBA issued the following statement Thursday regarding the 2017 NBA All-Star Game:

"The NBA has decided to relocate the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte with the hope of rescheduling for 2019.

"Since March, when North Carolina enacted HB2 and the issue of legal protections for the LGBT community in Charlotte became prominent, the NBA and the Charlotte Hornets have been working diligently to foster constructive dialogue and try to effect positive change. We have been guided in these discussions by the long-standing core values of our league. These include not only diversity, inclusion, fairness and respect for others but also the willingness to listen and consider opposing points of view.

"Our week-long schedule of All-Star events and activities is intended to be a global celebration of basketball, our league, and the values for which we stand, and to bring together all members of the NBA community -- current and former players, league and team officials, business partners, and fans. While we recognize that the NBA cannot choose the law in every city, state, and country in which we do business, we do not believe we can successfully host our All-Star festivities in Charlotte in the climate created by HB2.

"We are particularly mindful of the impact of this decision on our fans in North Carolina, who are among the most passionate in our league. It is also important to stress that the City of Charlotte and the Hornets organization have sought to provide an inclusive environment and that the Hornets will continue to ensure that all patrons -- including members of the LGBT community -- feel welcome while attending games and events in their arena.

"We look forward to re-starting plans for our All-Star festivities in Charlotte for 2019 provided there is an appropriate resolution to this matter.

"The NBA will make an announcement on the new location of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game in the coming weeks."

NBA reportedly moving 2017 All-Star Game away from Charlotte

"Pro Court Report" Staff Report

The NBA is reportedly preparing to announce the relocation of the 2017 All-Star weekend from Charlotte in response to the state's anti-LGBT legislation

“The issue for us, and maybe this is different than where some of the other businesses find themselves in North Carolina, is that we have a team in North Carolina, and that distinction, for example, between the All-Star Game and the regular operation of a team is not clear to me,” NBA Commisioner Adam Silver said in April before a Charlotte Hornets home game. “I’m not sure what statement we’d be making about our team in North Carolina, if we now announced that the All-Star Game would not take place in North Carolina but our team continued to operate there.”

As recently as July 12, Silver said, “The question for us becomes in this situation, given the controversy, given the amount of discussion, given how hardened the views are there, is this the place we should be in February 2017 as the epicenter of global basketball where we can go and celebrate our game and our values?”

The law, which was passed by the state’s general assembly during a special session in March, bans local municipalities from enacting non-discriminatory ordinances designed to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

The state’s general assembly had a chance at revising the bill before adjourning for the year but did not add any changes that appeased the NBA.