Boston Celtics president's hopeful message about TD Garden hosting future All-Star Game
Boston Celtics president Rich Gotham gave fans a hopeful message about the TD Garden hosting a future NBA All-Star Game while speaking with The Boston Globe's Gary Washburn (subscription required).
“We’ve had those conversations with both the NBA and the city of Boston and a lot of different constituencies, including TD Garden and Meet Boston,” Gotham said (h/t NESN). “We’ve had some preliminary conversations and there’s enthusiasm from all the parties to bring the game to Boston. We’re working at it.
“We’re comfortable talking about the opportunity. It’s very early in the process. Hopeful is the right word, between the Celtics and the NBA and the other parties that would need to be critical to it, there’s an optimism about it, for sure.”
Boston Celtics fans could see much different NBA All-Star Game if TD Garden hosts
The 2024 All-Star Game could end up being a game-changer for the Association, but for all the wrong reasons. The game itself was shredded, but All-Star Weekend's Saturday didn't fare much better.
Anthony Edwards disgraced the Skills Competition by shooting with his left hand and hitting backboard on two of his three 3-point attempts and Kenny "The Jet" Smith's commentary was what made headlines from Sabrina Ionescu's slim 3-point shootout loss to Steph Curry.
The vibes at the event were off, from Carmelo Anthony's off-court drama with George Karl taking a good bit of spotlight away from the All-Stars to Draymond Green slandering the Deep South and Charles Barkley firing back and making fun of San Francisco on commentary during the All-Star Game.
Luckily, everything should change with the February 19 rumor that players are lobbying to get paid for participation in the event.
As one source shared, the players privately expressed a desire to get paid for All-Star game competition, a la the In-Season Tournament. Behind the pay-for-play era, at @TheAthletic https://t.co/RcI7XwBUNB
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) February 19, 2024
Look at what players getting paid extra did to the In-Season Tournament in its first, presumably now of many, go-round. That happens to the All-Star Game, and we have ourselves an exceptionally competitive event in the future.
Get ready, Boston.