The 2024-25 NBA All-Star break has officially come to a close. The weekend and its festivities turned out to be much bigger news than the league or any of its fans expected, and not in a good way either. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver saw the depletion of interest and respect for the All-Star weekend and tried a variety of methods in hopes of rejuvenating its esteem.
They tried revamping the skills challenge (yet again) to no avail. The most interesting part of that contest was the San Antonio Spurs' duo of Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama getting disqualified for trying to exploit a loophole in the rules. Silver also changed the actual All-Star game format once again, this time turning into a tournament between four teams: the Rising Stars, the young All-Stars, the elder, OG All-Stars, and the international All-Stars. The idea was sound, but the execution was awful, as each game was only played to 40 which made for extremely brief exhibitions with almost zero defensive effort that were also constantly interrupted by commercial breaks and sideshows featuring Kevin Hart, Mr. Beast, and an homage to TNT, the broadcasting channel, for some reason.
The best change to come to this past All-Star game might have been related to the coverage, with the New Orleans Pelicans' own Trey Murphy III getting a chance to cosplay as a media member and interview some of his peers ahead of the events. While he turned out to be a great interviewer and could very well have a future in media once he hangs up his sneakers for good, both he and New Orleans would love to see him participate as an actual All-Star next season. Thankfully, he has a well-mapped plan for how to earn his first All-Star nod next year.
Trey Murphy III is determined to become an All-Star
In all honesty, Trey Murphy III probably had a decent claim for an All-Star nod this season. At the break, he was averaging 22.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game, all of which would be career highs. He's done so while maintaining his accuracy and output from 3-point land, connecting at 38 percent on his treyballs. He's actually increased his overall efficiency despite his increased workload and usage, shooting 46 percent from the field compared to his 44 percent mark from last season.
Those might not be slam-dunk All-Star numbers, but they're comparable to the outputs of some of the All-Star selections', like Alperen Sengun, Pascal Siakam, and Jaylen Brown. He wasn't even mentioned as one of the top snubs. When LeBron James wound up sitting out Sunday night, fans and pundits derided him for not dropping out earlier so that players like Norman Powell or Domantas Sabonis could have maybe snuck in.
Trey Murphy III hasn't even gotten Most Improved Player love yet, so it's not too surprising that he didn't get much All-Star consideration. His lack of presence in these prestigious discussions is almost certainly a by-product of New Orleans's miserable season that was derailed by injuries. Murphy himself acknowledged this in a recent appearance on The Kevin O'Connor Show. When asked by O'Connor what it would take for him to go from All-Star player correspondent to All-Star, he had this to say:
"Win games, simple as that... Just to bring up an example, obviously he's a great player, but LaMelo Ball. This year he had phenomenal numbers and his team wasn't really winning like that, so you don't really get rewarded for not winning... So for us, we got to win. That's what's most important."
He then went on to reference the "good stats, bad team" label that can mar good players who perpetually find themselves on losing teams and how badly he wanted to avoid that connotation. So far, his ascension has directly coincided with one of the worst Pelicans' seasons in recent memory, so he'll be looking to change the team's fortunes sooner rather than later. Hopefully, the league will take notice and show him some MIP love before season's end. If not, though, he'll just have to command the attention he deserves next season by translating his newfound production into wins for the Pelicans.