The NBA’s plan to hold the All-Star Weekend three weeks from now in Atlanta is outrageous not just because of Covid-19, but also because of the fact that the weekend’s events are pretty darn boring to begin with. Of course, the league wants the money: not holding All-Star Weekend would cost the NBA tens of millions of dollars. But even leaving the ethical pandemic-related issues aside, this seems to be a mistake. Much more lucrative than holding the usual boring All-Star Weekend this year would be to hold a unprecedentedly exciting, must-see-TV (or better yet, go-to-in-person) All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas next year:

All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas, 2022

Friday Night: The Lightweight Game |

Possible Western Conference starting lineup: Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Donovan Mitchell, Jamal Murray

Possible Eastern Conference starting lineup: Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal, Trae Young, Jrue Holiday, Malcolm Brogdon

Saturday Night: The Middleweight Game

Western Conference starting lineup: Luka Doncic, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Klay Thompson, Demar Derozan

Eastern Conference starting lineup: James Harden, Jimmy Butler, Jaylen Brown, Jason Tatum, Ben Simmons

Sunday Night: The Heavyweight Game (will the West sweep? Will the East upset? Tune in Sunday night to find out):

Western Conference starting lineup: Lebron, Davis, Jokic, Gobert, Zion

Eastern Conference starting lineup: Durant, Giannis, Sabonis, Embiid, Adebayo

And of course you could still do the skills competitions too, either on Thursday night or in the daytime…

Could you make twice as much money as on a normal All-Star Weekend if you made a big boxing-style basketball spectacle of this kind? I don’t know, but, as is true of Covid itself, it’s worth a shot.