The 2025 NBA All-Star Game played out in Oakland, California last weekend (amid the 2025 TV schedule), where a new tournament-style format was utilized for the big game on Sunday. Viewers seemed to be relatively mixed about the massive changes to the annual basketball showcase. Another change this year involved the inclusion of comedian Kevin Hart as both an emcee and commentator. It seems that fans weren’t all that enthusiastic about his punditry, and even some of the players had problems with that and more.
Kevin Hart has long been a basketball fan and has frequently been spotted at games over the years. When it comes to All-Star events, he’s participated in multiple celebrity basketball games, winning MVP honors four times. This year marks his biggest role to date in the production of the annual weekend festivities. Hart has amassed quite a following due to his comedic prowess but, based on what a number of viewers shared on X, his commentary left something to be desired. Check out some of the responses:
- Tragic to see the All star game become a comedy show. - @LeLukaShow
- Time for Kevin heart to retire. - @Spacecabbagee
- Kevin not funny he just talks a lot. - @500KLA
- Idk how the NBA hasn't grown sick of Kevin Hart. His shit is so played out. - @RedNationZ_
- Kevin Hart is not funny. I don’t know why they keep forcing him on us.. - @mc_tonym
This wasn’t the first time Mr. Hart had hosted in some capacity. During the Paris Olympics last summer, Hart provided commentary alongside Kenan Thompson. The comedian also currently hosts his own talk show, Hart to Heart, which is available to stream with a Peacock subscription. Nevertheless, dishing up analysis during a sporting event is vastly different. Hart’s critiques didn’t seem to sit well with some of the folks involved in the game, with one notable person being Oklahoma City Thunder phenom Shai Gilgeous-Alexander:
pic.twitter.com/Yy1TNsLXmBFebruary 17, 2025
Gripes from current and former players weren’t limited to the Lift star’s comments. They also seemed to have a problem with how the events on Sunday night were organized. On ESPN’s First Take, ex-player Kendrick Perkins also laid into the inclusion of the “Mr. Beast Challenge” as well as the awkwardly timed Inside the NBA tribute. As seen in the YouTube video, Perkins didn’t hold back:
I didn’t want to see Kevin Hart, Chuck and Shaq sitting up here, dressed in life jackets and fishing rods during the middle of the damn All-Star Game! Nobody wanted to see that! We wanted to see the game being played! I thought the guys were into it and, all of a sudden, we had these damn layoffs and these damn breaks. And I’m sitting up here, saying, ‘This is the problem.’
Boston Celtics star and Jordan Brand signee Jayson Tatum also wasn’t fully pleased with how everything played out as evidenced by a press conference video shared to Reddit. The NBA champion did say that he thought the new format for the game was solid, though he found the long break between the action to be somewhat difficult:
The toughest part — they stopped the game to do the presentation while we were kind of like, halfway through [the game]. We were sitting down for twenty minutes, whatever it was, it was kind of tough to get back into the game after that.
Over the past several years, the NBA has tried to find ways to revitalize All-Star Weekend, especially the main game, due to somewhat lackluster competitions. What the league does next year for the weekend in Inglewood, California remains to be seen. Considering the response to Kevin Hart’s role, I’m curious to see whether he retains his duties for 2026. As for Hart himself, he’s never been one to listen to critics, so I’d expect he’ll move forward accordingly.
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