Letters to Sports: Motivate NBA All-Stars to win with a cool half million

After watching that sham of an NBA All-Star “Game” and feeling the same sense of boredom and annoyance as most other viewers, I have one very simple way to fix this. The players on the winning team each get $500,000. The players on the losing team? $5,000. That will get these unenthusiastic millionaires to play harder, that’s for sure.

Danny Balber Jr.
Pasadena

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The NBA All-Star Game, now an unholy alliance between H-O-R-S-E and a dunk contest, would benefit from three adjustments: (1) Play winners outs. The team that scores retains possession. Thus, a team that plays little or lazy defense is not rewarded with the ball. (2) Play to a target score, something in the neighborhood of 120 points. (3) Increase the swag. The ASG revenue was north of $300 million. The players would likely find more motivation if each winner’s share were, say, $5 million.

Dave Sanderson
La Cañada

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211-186? Why bother?

Rob Parra
Rowland Heights

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Three personal fouls were called in this year’s All-Star Game. In 2025, the NBA should consider eliminating game officials to speed up play.

David Marshall
Santa Monica

The Angels need to show Anthony Rendon the door. He comes across as a malcontent with his comment of “it’s just a job.” He doesn’t seem either to want to be in baseball or appreciate the fact that his “job” has provided him and his family financial security for life. He doesn’t understand that most of us who played baseball as kids would give up our job in a minute to have his job and live out our childhood dream!

Steve Shaevel
Woodland Hills

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Anthony Rendon said that baseball is not in his top two of priorities, calling it his “job” and once again taking swipes at both fans and reporters.

Ugh. If he doesn’t care that much about the game and doesn’t want to give his all when he’s playing, he should retire and renounce the rest of the contract money he’s owed. He doesn’t have much passion for the game he’s paid handsomely to play, and he has also expressed a dismissive attitude toward fans in the past, with arrogant comments that suggest the fans are ignorant and have no right to challenge his commitment. How can anyone root for a player on the field who has announced such a lack of enthusiasm for the game?

T.R. Jahns
Hemet

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Breaking news, Anthony, everyone loves their family. But most people take pride in doing their best at their job, even people making $37 million per year.

Mike Gamboa
Buena Park

Jack Harris reports manager Dave Roberts says he is willing to trust Shohei. The Dodgers’ fans trust that “Shohei” will “show them” the way to a World Series victory.

Mark Sherwin
Los Angeles

Let’s get this right. LeBron James sat Thursday night and watched his team get beat by the Warriors, a team that the Lakers are competing against for play-in position, after LeBron played 14 minutes in a meaningless All-Star exhibition game? Oh yeah, I think I got it right.

Richard Raffalow
Valley Glen

Cancel culture might get extreme at times, and we’ve seen worse celebrity behavior than Matt Barnes getting out of hand at a high school basketball game. But his defensive, pathetic apology was character revealing: A likely lie (validated on video) about the youth announcer cursing him. A defiant, “I’m gonna be doing a lot of yelling at the refs.” Whining that a fan flipped him off (boo hoo). And the coup de grace, “I didn’t bodyslam him. I didn’t chokeslam him.” Thanks for the clarification. Perhaps you’re thinking of numerous other past on- and off-court incidents?

Brad Kearns
Stateline, Nev.

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The Matt Barnes incident was amusing on many levels, including hearing the chant in the background of the video (likely incited by Barnes’ boorish behavior): “Ref you suck, ref you suck.” This is prestigious Crespi Carmelite High School, where God is watching at all times. Another pathetic example of youth sports gone awry.

Stu Foldez
Woodland Hills

Why are Bill Shaikin and the L.A. Times doing PR for Trevor Bauer? We’re told that Bauer wants to pitch in the major leagues — so what? How is this news? Why does his point of view deserve to be aired at length in the L.A. Times?

Ruth Warkentin
Long Beach

I have attended many great sporting events in Los Angeles over my 60 years living in SoCal. I went to see a UCLA women’s gymnastic competition and was blown away by how fantastic it is. Amazing athletes. Right up there with attending a World Series game.

Paul Burns
Granada Hills

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