He said the same about the men's basketball competition at last summer's Paris Olympics as although Team USA won a fifth straight gold, that was only after hard-fought games with Serbia and hosts France. Interest in the NBA's All-Star game has dropped in recent years and even a change to the format for this year's game failed to stop the decline. Despite having four teams playing a three-game mini-tournament, viewership dropped by 13% from 2024 to the second-lowest TV audience in 25 years. There was a Global Stars team but introducing more of an international element from next year had been suggested, especially with so many international players now in the NBA. For the past seven years, the league's Most Valuable Player has not been American - although Joel Embiid has since chosen to represent USA rather than Cameroon or France - and for the past two years the first overall draft pick has been from France.