How Victor Vembanyama ‘set the tone’ saved the NBA All-Star Game

The day after Valentine’s Day was full of love for the NBA, which accomplished something that fans and pundits alike thought was impossible. The league saved NBA All-Star Game.

Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards went viral on Friday for declaring that the All-Star Game “is what it is at this point.” It was a disappointingly transparent warning against any expectation of effort. It was evident after the first of four games on Sunday Edwards changed his mind.

Team Stars—the younger group of American All-Stars—defeated Team World 37-35. After the game, Edwards said as much to Zora Stevenson San Antonio Spurs center Victor VembanyamaThe intensity drew the competitive edge out of his group.

“I mean, you know, I wasn’t going to lie, Wemby set the tone. Like, he came out playing hard. So it’s hard not to match that, well, s…, that happened. Excuse my language, that’s what happened,” Edwards told Stevenson on the NBC show.

Edwards and Vembanyama are two players often referred to as the “future faces of the NBA,” the heartbreaking admission that the playing careers of two Akron-born superstars, their compatriots Slim-Reaping and Kawhi Leonard, will come to an end. The Timberwolves point guard avoided the label like the plague, but his MVP-winning performance on Sunday belied that.

Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Edwards are good on Muggsy Bogus’ All-Star prediction

One former NBA player saw the revival of the All-Star Game. Ironically, it was the lowest player in league history who had the vision necessary to disagree with an industry that had largely given up on the event.

Bogues told SiriusXM NBA Radio’s David Sheppard that the players know the game is just an exhibition and that fans have been “waiting all year” for the event. He also predicted that only a few young, eager All-Stars would bring the necessary fire of the other best in the league.

“It’s the players. They know it’s an All-Star game. But they know when it’s time to compete and give the fans exactly what they deserve… I think the message and the word is getting out. And I think some of the younger players understand the importance of that. And I think they’re going to put some of their own—I don’t know, maybe the ones from Front Street, and when you put the energy in, it resonates and also shows who’s all in and who’s all out,” Bogus explained insightfully to Shepard before All-Star weekend.

Vembanyama’s approach to the contest was reminiscent of the fervor fans saw a young Kobe Bryant bring to the 1998 All-Star Game. The last dance recently highlighted the desire of veteran players to to bring down the eager Bryantthe exact energy that the sixth-year guard in Edwards had for the third-year phenom.

Giving financial incentives to the league’s richest players has been proven to boost efforts. However, the challenges of their peers affect the competitive spirit that fuels their battles against the best players in the world. That’s the NBA’s key to saving its All-Star game, which it managed regardless of the format changes.

The event will always go as far as its best talent will take it. This year they were shooting for the stars.