Growing up, the NBA All-Star weekend was always one of my favorites.

Favorite weekends, favorite event, favorite time to appreciate my favorite sport and favorite players.

Although I was alive, I’m too young to remember the Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins dunk contests, the Larry Bird 3-point contest victories (three times, including the first), 5-foot-7 Spud Webb out dunking his taller piers, or Magic Johnson winning the All-Star Game MVP in 1992 after he announced his retirement because of HIV and then returned.

Thank you, NBA TV and YouTube, for allowing me to witness the greatness after the face.

However, I did see Jason Williams elbow pass, Kobe Bryant’s first All-Star Game and dunk contest, Allen Iverson delight, Dwight Howard vs. Nate Robinson in the dunk contest, Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard light it up behind the 3-point line, and of course, Vince Carter’s legendary performance at the 2000 dunk contest; the greatest of all time.

I’ve watched every single contest, skills challenge, and full-fledged game since I was little and have enjoyed each one.

But as the years go by, the excitement is a little less and less.

Maybe it’s because my childhood basketball idols are now in their 60s, and my high school and college must-watch stars are retired, except for LeBron James and Chris Paul.

It could be we just get tired of things, and we need change.

I used to love eggs, until I ate them every day.

I used to enjoy certain songs until I heard them on the radio every day.

I used to love the NBA All-Star festivities until I saw the same things every year.

And it’s a shame because according to Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), I am not alone with this thought process.

Creating new dunks, we haven’t seen by a real-life player or on a video game, is almost impossible.

There are only so many props, Blake Griffin over a car, we can use. There are so many tall legends, like Shaquille O’Neal, to jump over. He was actually used twice this year. My point exactly.

When Mac McClung, the champ this year and last, did a different dunk no one had seen before, he got his lowest score of the night from the judges.

I agree with Reggie Miller, the 3-point contest should be the main event now.

Time has moved on, the game has changed since each team chucks up 25-plus 3-pointers a night, and the competition is actually captivating.

Four guys finished the first round with 26 to force a shootout to see which two would go to the next round. It was exciting.

So was Curry against WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu in a 1-v-1 battle. I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes a yearly event, and more people get involved.

I know you’re probably waiting for me to bash the actual All-Star Game because there wasn’t any defense, most of the players looked uninterested, and the score was more inflated than our economy.

With how the sport is going in terms of superstars with injuries, fouls being equally inflated, and at times deflated, shooting behind the arc being more important than the extra pass, it didn’t surprise me.

I don’t think I’d call it a bad game; I’d just call it a 2024 exhibition game.

The NBA All-Star weekend will always be on my TV or tablet because it’s a tradition and I still want to see the best of the best, but it doesn’t have the same feel, the same electricity it once did.

Hopefully it can come back.

Magic Johnson did. Michael Jordan did. LeBron James probably will.

The NBA All-Star Weekend can come back to an all-around entertaining level.