One NBA star's not afraid of a 1v1 tournament and his name is Jaylen Brown

Most people attribute the end of stars partaking in the NBA's All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest to when LeBron James refused to participate. Since then high flyers like Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, and Anthony Edwards have all passed on what used to be a marquee event. Even the All-Star Game has become a shell of it's past since the retirement of hyper competitive MVP's like Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, and Kevin Garnett. Once again LeBron James tends to be blamed for leading the way in making the game more of a joke since he captured the mantle of the face of then league, but I digress.

While star players refused to enter the dunk competition for fear of the embarrassment of losing, there was a lone outlier two years back when Jaylen Brown accepted an invite. Brown would end up as the runner-up in that 2024 contest, but credit to him for not being scared to give it a shot.

So it's no surprise that this weekend, Brown was leading the charge to have the NBA adopt a 1-on-1 tournament featuring the NBA's top stars in future All-Star weekends.

"I actually love watching it because it reminds me like the purity of the game. It's just mano-a-mano. It's got people on the court talking trash. You know what I mean? You gotta play two sides. You gotta be an offensive and a defensive player. So I think that'd be great.

And they can do it like boxing where you can call the guy out, challenge some people. There's some people that I would love to challenge. Some people that's here this weekend I would love to challenge. Like all of them. Luka, Shai, Brunson, Donovan. I challenge all of them guys one-on-one. We can donate to whatever charity. Let's set it up."

My prediction here is that Adam Silver and the NBA do throw in a 1v1 tournament next All-Star weekend in Phoenix, but I'm hesitant to believe all the top stars will participate. Jaylen certainly will and I'm pretty confident Tatum will as well, but I could see several of the perennial 1st and 2nd team All-NBA players not wanting to "embarrass" themselves by losing to who they perceive as a lesser star. If for example the aforementioned LeBron James is still playing next season and is an All-Star, there is no chance he will play in my honest opinion.

It is possible that star players will embrace a 1v1 tournament at least in its initial year, but the fear is that after it loses its novelty it will end up like the dunk contest with the best players not participating, followed by even just run of the mill starters passing on it, and eventually you'll have no names and/or G-League players in the tournament out of desperation. But who knows? Maybe it will stick.

And credit to Jaylen for once again not being scared to give the fans what they want.