NBA All-Star Break for Staff

Working in the NBA

The NBA All-Star Break operates a bit differently for every single person on staff. 

Most staff are not attending All-Star weekend unless… they have a player on the team.  And then they might send management, operations, training staff, and security along.  I mean, you gotta be prepared, it’s likely your franchise player headed to the game.  The equipment staff and others at the home base will also have to get things prepped for their All-Star.

For the scouting staff, it’s a time to fine-tune the roster in preparation for a post-season run or a late season tank.  This will determine if you fill in the roster with players that you may need to play 5-10 minutes a night or players you might play 35 minutes a night to try and secure a top 5 pick, my dearest apologies to fans of these franchises.    

What everyone hopes to get is a few days off.  Up until this point, the staff has likely worked 7 days a week from around a week before Training Camp until now.  Having worked for 5 General Managers myself, there were a host of different ways they viewed All-Star Break.

Our ‘favorite’ GM’s were the ones who would give us a heads up months prior so we could make plans for a vacation or getaway, thank goodness.  And then there were the GM’s who would wait until the last moment to let us know if we were coming in that weekend or not.  Even All-Star days off can be a bit deceiving.  Once, on a Friday before All-Star, I was told, “John, feel free to take the weekend off but here is a list of 10 G-League players we need to have film ready for on Monday.”    

Although getting away is always preferred, even getting out of the office can be a sense of respite in gearing up for the final months of the season. 

In most of my tenure, I never tired of watching basketball.  I would watch 3-5 games a day of NBA and NCAA basketball.  But for All-Star break, I never watched the game or All-Star weekend.  It was the reset weekend.  The time to get away from hoops as best as possible.  Usually in the woods or along the Oregon Coast, preferably with my phone in airplane mode, a rare opportunity in an NBA season.

Survey for our class Alumni and Subscribers:

As I shared last week, we have some exciting things up ahead with the (re)launch of our Website and Podcast.  If you’ve taken a class with us before, you likely have a survey link in your spam (bcc’ing hundreds of people with links doesn’t do well to get to your primary folder :)… but here is the survey as well.  We’d love to get some feedback from you and get you up on our alumni site.  If you’re a subscriber on here (or simply love filling out surveys), we welcome your input as well!  Thank you!