One simple solution to the NBA’s all-star snub problem

With the All-Star game rapidly approaching and the rosters now set, we already know who made the team and who didn’t. Ask just about any NBA fan, and they have an opinion of which player was robbed of an All-Star selection.

While many of those takes are biased toward their favorite team, plenty of them are spot on. After all, the talent level in the NBA has increased dramatically in the last few years, particularly this season, and there are certainly more than 24 players worthy of making the all-star team.

That means that no matter who was selected, there were always going to be several surprising snubs. Oddly enough, the NBA itself is largely to blame for some of their top players not making the All-Star team. How? The NBA has conspicuously opted not to increase the all-star rosters beyond 12 players per team, despite some pretty compelling reasons.

Expanding the NBA All-Star rosters is common sense, but owners may be against it.

The reason for expanding the rosters is a simple one: actual NBA rosters have had a 15-player limit for more than 20 years. The all-star game is meant to mirror a regular game, but with the best players from each conference filling out the rosters. That makes the NBA’s decision to keep the rosters set at 12 appear arbitrary.

However, perhaps there is one reason why the NBA has yet to make the change. Expanding the all-star rosters has financial implications. For instance, if a player makes the All-Star team twice while on his rookie contract, it allows him to qualify for a rookie maximum extension or 25% of the cap.

NBA owners are likely against that, particularly with the salary cap set to skyrocket after 2025. That’s when the new NBA television contract expires. Additionally, a number of NBA contracts have lucrative bonuses for making the All-Star team, and the owners would be more likely to pay if there were three additional spots available in each conference.

That may also result in an owner paying the luxury tax if their team is close enough to the threshold and it is considered an unlikely bonus. For instance, few expected Lauri Markkanen to make the all-star team this season after signing a new contract. Had the Jazz been near the tax, it could have cost them.

Overall, financial ramifications aside, having the best players make All-Star teams is just common sense. It’s not only important for the league as a marketing tool but also for player legacies. Therefore, the NBA should finally expand the All-Star rosters because doing so would only help the league.