Barack Obama Slams Current NBA Players for Ruining League Tradition

Former President of the United States Barack Obama is known to be a massive sports fan, especially in regards to basketball.

Obama spent much of his life in Chicago, and is a huge Chicago sports fan because of it.

Obama has attended many NBA games throughout his love, and loves many aspects of the game. However, on Wednesday, Obama appeared on The Young Man the The Three podcast with co-hosts Tommy Alter and Tyrese Haliburton, and explained one area of the game that has him completely fed up.

“Y’all gotta have a little more pride in that All-Star Game,” Obama said to Haliburton. “I mean, look, it’s not as if y’all don’t play pickup during the summers. You know how to play in a way that, ‘Alright, I’m not gonna hurt anybody. I’m not gonna take anybody out.’ That All-Star Game, it’s broke, man.”

Obama also compared it to All-Star Games of the past, when the biggest stars clearly wanted to win.

“I mean, people just not running, everybody just trying all kinds of — it used to be, when Kobe (Bryant) and Michael (Jordan) and Isiah (Thomas), and those guys were playing, man, I mean, they weren’t playing the way they did regular season, but they wanted to win,” Obama said. “It insults the game. This is your business. This is your product. You don’t want people thinking you’re all out there just half-assed.”

Obama said he’s so fed up with the All-Star Game that he can’t even watch it any more. It’s safe to say he’s not the only person who feels that way.

“Take it more seriously,” Obama said. “Y’all need to do something because I ain’t watching that thing no more.”

The NBA All-Star Game has been under a ton of scrutiny over the last handful of seasons. The league has tried to make numerous changes, including an All-Star Game Draft, but nothing has allowed it to reach the competitive levels of games in the past.

At the end of the day, though, it’s on the players. If the league wants the game to be competitive, it needs the players to take pride in the game and actually want to win. If not, it will be a glorified exhibition game for the foreseeable future.

Maybe Obama’s rant to Haliburton will help spark a change in the game moving forward.

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