One of the most prestigious achievements an NBA player can have in their career is to be voted onto their conference’s , to take part in the annual All-Star game. This takes place every February and involves the best players in each conference being selected to face off in an East vs. West encounter. Due to the rarity of being able to see all of the best players in the league on court at one time, this is an event which attracts a lot of attention, although in truth it often is not the best game of the year.

The reason for this is pretty simple. Throughout the year players practice with their club team mates and are used to running the drills that their coach lays down. An almost telepathic understanding is built up between teams who get this right, and this is next to impossible to achieve in the short time the All-Star teams have to practise together. Nonetheless, the relaxed nature of the game does allow for players to try flashier moves in the knowledge that they will not be held too culpable if they don’t come off.

The All-Star game has become a centerpiece to the season, to the extent that the festivities go on over a weekend which features events as diverse as a slam dunk contest, an all-rookie game and a pro-celebrity game. Most of these activities will be covered on television, with the All Star game taking pride of place at prime time on the Sunday night.

A Place To Be Seen

It is a measure of the increasing popularity of sports that they have been adopted so readily by the celebrity crowds in recent years. One only has to take note of this happening in other sports – for example, Tom Cruise attending a few soccer games due to a friendship with the Beckhams – to see that, where sport used to be considered a mostly working-class pursuit, it has really broken through to a wider audience of people who may sometimes go to games to be seen.

Now, this is slightly unfair on some of the long-term basketball fans who have been attending games for decades. It is well known that Jack Nicholson is a Los Angeles Lakers fan and has been a regular at their games for some time.

The same is true of John McEnroe. The same may not be as true of Leonardo di Caprio and Bar Refeali. Meanwhile, it is well known that Spike Lee is a hardcore New York Knicks fan.

Of course, there is every reason to believe that this is just one of the perks of being a celebrity. Not everyone can be a celebrity, but can those of us who are not, and never will, really say that we would turn down the opportunity to have courtside seats whenever we wanted them to see our favorite team play?

A busy work schedule may mean you can’t be there every game, but should that stop you from taking the chance when it is there? As for the high number of celebrity Lakers fans … well, that’s LA for you.