The most obvious solution to fix the NBA All-Star Game

Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees, and in the NBA's case, the perfect NBA All-Star Game format: Team USA versus the World.

Following the 2024 Paris Olympics, where it genuinely felt like the rest of the world had caught up with the United States, the NBA had the perfect opportunity to draw the battle lines between America's best versus Nikola Jokic and Co. at its annual showcase game.

The biggest criticism of the All-Star Game has been a lack of competitive spirit. Perhaps an infusion of the patriotic element would get America's players to band together to ensure they don't lose to international players. On the other side, the foreigners would leave it all on the floor as they try to take down the Americans. 

Over the last few years, there have been rumblings of America-born stars getting tired of overseas players winning the MVP award — an American has not won MVP since James Harden in 2018. As such, there is a percolating rivalry the NBA would be wise to tap into.

Most importantly, there are 12 international players worthy of making the All-Star team, meaning there would be a competitive balance.

Potential International roster: Jokic (Serbia), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Joel Embiid (Cameroon), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), Victor Wembanyama (France), Franz Wagner (Germany), Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania), Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Jamal Murray (Canada), Alperen Sengun (Turkey) and Lauri Markkanen (Finland). 

Among the 12 players, at least nine are All-Star locks, and the other three are all very viable candidates. Plus, we didn't even mention other former All-Stars like Pascal Siakam (Cameroon), Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia) and Rudy Gobert (France).

Bottom line: the NBA has a lot of global talent in the league to create the "us versus them" narrative to sell an All-Star Game. 

It's at least worth a try. 

Especially when the NBA continues to tinker with the NBA All-Star Game with a series of hits and misses. In the last five years alone, we've seen the East versus West format being ditched, brought back and ditched again, captains drafting rosters, voting processes altered and several other changes difficult to keep track of.

As Kevin Durant aptly said, the NBA is trying to "bring back the flair" of the All-Star Game, which, at one point, was an annual fixture in every sports-loving household. In that sense, the league can't be blamed for experimenting. It's just a shame it hasn't explored the most obvious solution.