As we approach the NBA’s all-star events this weekend, the stars seem to be bailing in favour of some mid-season time off. Several big names had already declared that they didn’t want to play this weekend due to injuries. First, Yao Ming was voted to the start the all-star game while he was still on the injured list. Soon after, more and more stars came falling with assorted injuries. In fact, the West broke the record for most injured players named to an all-star team with 4. Carlos Boozer, Steve Nash and now Allen Iverson have all ducked out of the game with a bevy of injuries. In the East, it’s looking as if Jason Kidd won’t be playing on Sunday, according to reports that is. The list may not even stop at those names; on Tuesday night, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade both played through injuries. ‘Melo sat out the fourth quarter with a quadriceps injury while D-Wade played through the pain of a muscle bruise.
The conspiracy theory going around is that players don’t want to play in the game this year for more selfish reasons than to recover from injuries on the weekend off. Since the game is being held in Sin City, it’s thought that players would rather attend swank parties instead of playing in a meaningless game.
PS. To give you an idea of how big the parties will be this Sunday, Michael Jordan is said to be looking to hire 75 dancers to perform at his 44th birthday party on Saturday night.