NBA Stars on the Strip

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NBA regular season is a long grind. From November to April, each team plays 82 games, many quite meaningless, all before the good (or at least, slightly better than mediocre) teams begin the interminable playoffs. Knees get creaky, players cranky, and play often sloppy. So in mid-February, the NBA's ruling junta offers players an extended five-day All-Star break — a chance to go home, rest up and get as far away from the sport as possible. But this week many of the some 350 players with no direct involvement in the All-Star game or one of the ancillary competitions, like the Slam Dunk or Three-Point shooting contests, will pack their bags and run to the airport, giddy with anticipation to spend those five precious days... in Las Vegas, the site of this year's contest.

In most sports, All-Star games are necessary evils, a nod to tradition and TV ratings (though those Nielsens are dwindling, especially in football and hockey). Getting chosen for an all-star team is still an honor, but more and more players seem to develop dubious injuries to get the time off. Everyone else just heads home, or lies on the beach, and watches the game on TV.

Then there's the NBA. Over the past two decades, the league's All-Star weekend has transcended sports, morphing into a full-scale cultural exhibition where sports, entertainment and corporate glitterati collide. The parties never stop, and even the rank-and-file players want in. Throw Las Vegas into the mix this year, and it's no wonder so many players will be showing up, regardless of a half-season's worth of fatigue and Shaq elbows to the chest.

All-Star weekend has become particularly significant for African-American players and their fans. Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon coined the term "Black Thanksgiving" to describe the All-Star phenomenon, a nod to the throngs of African-American fans who flock to the All-Star city, not to attend the game, but to mingle with the high-profile athletes and entertainers, and with each other. "It's a premier event on the African-American social calendar," says Hal Biagas, deputy counsel for the NBA Players Association.

Biagas expects between 150 to 200 NBA players to attend the annual Players Association party, the weekend's showcase event, on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay hotel. Mary J. Blige, who just won three Grammys, will perform; LL Cool J, Shaq, Ludacris and Usher are on the guest list. "It's a blacks' black-tie event," says former player and current ESPN analyst Greg Anthony. The Players Association expects 5,000 people; Budweiser, Volkswagen, Sean John and the island of Bermuda are among the sponsors. Even Bill Clinton — dubbed the country's first black president by Toni Morrison — showed up to the 2003 party in Atlanta. It's an invitation-only affair, but the Players Association says that bootleg tickets have gone for as much as $800 on ticketsnow.com.

Scoff if you will, but the party might actually be worth it. Through some fortuitious connections, a friend and I went to a Players Association gala three years ago in Los Angeles. If the All-Star game is Black Thanksgiving, it was our "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" moment. It was also a bit humbling: a bartender had a sour expression as he served me my $12 glass of Bud, then perked up considerably when Kenyon Martin, now of the Denver Nuggets, asked for a $700 bottle of Cristal. We, literally, bumped into LeBron James, and caught a little Snoop Dogg.

While many coaches prefer that their guys stay home, it can help relieve cabin fever. "Certain guys recharge themselves in certain ways," says former New York Knick John Starks. "Going out there and blowing off steam is OK." Damon Jones of the Cleveland Cavaliers was asked to participate in the three-point shooting contest, but he would have been in Vegas regardless. "You can relax and have fun at the same time," says Jones, who is known for dressing to the nines when he's not on the court. "It's good to get your mind off of everything that's happening, both good and bad, with your team."

There are still some holdouts. "There are going to be a lot of nuts running around," says Los Angeles Laker forward Brian Cook, who won't be going. And Vegas will certainly be crowded: along with the NBA contingent, the annual MAGIC men's apparel trade show runs through Friday and will bring 115,000 additional visitors to the Strip, and 15,000 veterinarians hit town for a convention that starts Sunday. "It's just too much traffic," says Laker Aaron McKie, sounding strangely like my grandmother. I hear you, Aaron. But any chance I can have your party tickets?