CHICAGO — The NBA All-Star Game is a star-studded exhibition meant to give players and fans a break from the stress and rigor of the regular season, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t lessons to be learned.

As first-time All-Stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell prepare themselves for the final stretch of the Utah Jazz’s 2019-20 season, the one thing that stood out to both players during their time in Chicago was the type of person and player that it takes to contend for a championship.

Between the All-Star coaches and players on Sunday night there were seven NBA championships, eight MVP trophies and countless conference finals appearances.

“The focus of the last quarter, you’re around the coaching staff of last year’s champion,” Mitchell said. “You see their attention to detail. You see what makes Kyle Lowry a great leader, and Pascal Siakam, coach (Nick) Nurse. Seeing how Kawhi Leonard took over in certain moments, and being able to take that. Those guys are champions and being able to watch them up close was beneficial.”

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Gobert echoed the same thing, noting that it’s impossible not to come away from the All-Star weekend and gain something from the amount of NBA experience they were surrounded by.

Additionally, Mitchell said it was surreal but also a confidence boost to look around the room and recognize that he belonged.

“You realize that you’re among the best guys in the league and you’re one of them,” he said. 

It wasn’t just the Jazz players that should come away from NBA All-Star 2020 with gained knowledge. The NBA, in an effort to boost interest in the All-Star Game changed the format, closing out the game with an ‘Elam Ending,” coined by Ball State professor Nick Elam, in which there is no game clock and instead a target score.

Originally, the NBA was going to add 35 points to the highest-scoring team to create the target score, then when Kobe Bryant died, they changed it to 24 to honor the late NBA legend.

Bottom line is that it worked. Though it was unsure leading up to the event, during and after the changed format was praised far and wide for making this year’s All-Star Game one of the best in recent memory.

The NBA would be foolish not to continue with that format.

Looking even farther ahead, in February of 2023 the NBA All-Star festivities will return to Salt Lake City for the first time in 30 years, when John Stockton and Karl Malone were named co-MVPs of the 1993 All-Star Game held at the Delta Center.

Though there is a three-year wait between now and Salt Lake City playing host, both Mitchell and Gobert are looking forward to being a part of it.

“It’s going to be amazing,” Mitchell said Sunday night. “Hopefully, we’re in there, both of us. We’re going to go out there and do our thing. But a weekend like this in Salt Lake is big for the state and I think it’s going to be really special.”

“It’s going to be amazing. Hopefully, we’re in there, both of us. We’re going to go out there and do our thing. But a weekend like this in Salt Lake is big for the state and I think it’s going to be really special.” — Donovan Mitchell

Gobert said that despite Utah being considered one of the NBA’s smaller markets, NBA All-Star 2023 will give the world a chance to see how much basketball means to Jazz fans.

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“The fans in Salt Lake deserve it,” he said. “They’re really passionate, not just about us, but about basketball in general so I think the energy is going to be amazing.”

The 2023 game will be Utah’s second time hosting the All-Star event and will follow the 2021 All-Star weekend in Indianapolis, and 2022 in Cleveland.

If there is anything that the Miller family or that Salt Lake City should take from this year’s exhibition weekend it is that the opportunity to showcase the best that the city and state has to offer should be used in full.

Utah, of course, has experience in hosting large-scale sporting events, so it should lean on that in order to make 2023 NBA All-Star an experience that people remember.

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