NBA, Players Reportedly Agree to TV Broadcast of All-Star Game Draft
The NBA reached an agreement with the NBA Players Association to broadcast the 2019 All-Star draft, the New York Times' Marc Stein and Kevin Draper reported Wednesday.
The league has yet to finalize a date for the event, "but Jan. 30 or Jan. 31 have emerged as two potential targets for a TNT broadcast."
Last year was the first time the NBA used a draft process to fill out the All-Star squads. LeBron James and Stephen Curry selected their teams from the All-Star pool, the results of which came from traditional conference-based voting and coaches' selections.
After holding the draft behind closed doors, James and Curry agreed the spectacle deserved to be televised.
The decision not to air the All-Star draft made sense, though. The NBA wanted to get a better feel for how things would play out before broadcasting it nationwide.
Stein also reported in January that some people inside the players union were against the idea of putting the draft on television. The NBA "did not want to risk embarrassing the last player chosen—or anyone else," according to Stein.
The All-Star draft was a great way to freshen up what had become a somewhat stale showcase. The fact it will be on television this time around will add to the excitement leading up to the 2019 All-Star Game.
