00:00What's good fellas, my name's Andy and we all know about the All-Star Game and we've watched many All
00:06-Star Games in our lives.
00:07The NBA All-Star Weekend in general is one of the most popular and illustrious events for the sport of
00:14basketball.
00:15Every single year, a lot of young players and even older players get the chance to show off their skills
00:21under the brightest lights.
00:23Besides the NBA Finals or the NBA Draft, the NBA All-Star Weekend is the NBA's most watched program during
00:30the regular season.
00:31However, back in 2007, the NBA wanted to experiment a little bit.
00:37For the first time in history, they held the All-Star Weekend in a city that did not have an
00:42NBA team, Las Vegas.
00:45A city that's known for its hotels and resorts, fancy casinos and wild nightlife.
00:50It's a very popular tourist spot as well.
00:53Vegas attracts people from all over the world, from all different cultures.
00:57And the 2007 All-Star Weekend was highly anticipated to be amazing.
01:02And it definitely was really exciting.
01:05Gerald Green showed an amazing display of donks.
01:08Jason Capona won the three-point contest with a score of 24, which at the time tied for the highest
01:14score in the contest's history.
01:16Dwayne Wade won the Skills Challenge for the second year in a row.
01:19And Kobe Bryant led the West to a 21-point victory and claimed the All-Star Game MVP.
01:24And let's not forget, Charles Barkley raced against Dick Bavetta and kissed him on the lips.
01:30Overall, it was a great weekend for all of the events.
01:33But unfortunately, what made this weekend so controversial was what happened off the courts.
01:39Vegas is already pretty rowdy on a normal weekend, but because the NBA All-Star Weekend was in the city,
01:46there were also a ton of more celebrities and parties going on.
01:49And it got a little crazy, to say the least.
01:53According to a report, between 12pm on Thursday and early Monday morning, 362 people were booked into the Clark County
02:01Detention Center, which was a prison.
02:03Over 400 people total were arrested.
02:07Apparently, there were some people who even got killed.
02:10There was a story that was reported where someone saw a body fall off from the top of a casino
02:15and slammed onto the ground.
02:17A ton of people were breaking the law, and the arrests ranged from things like criminal trespassing to assault and
02:23robbery to disorderly conduct.
02:25There were people taking cabs, and then upon arriving at their destination, they would just run away to avoid paying
02:32the money to the cab drivers.
02:34The entire event outside of the arena was very uncomfortable for the players too.
02:39According to former player Rafer Alston, who was attending the event, he said,
03:02Tracy McGrady, after finding out that the next All-Star Game would be hosted in New Orleans, was deeply concerned
03:08about the security there, especially after all the stuff that happened in Vegas.
03:12According to an article written by Joe Showman, a journalist who was living in Las Vegas, he said that one
03:18of the main causes of all this violence during the weekend was because Vegas was flooded with a crowd that
03:24merged the culture of hip-hop with a four-mile stretch of casinos that, until last weekend, almost certainly had
03:30never seen so many blacks.
03:32And because Vegas was not very far from Los Angeles, you had a lot of LA guys coming in during
03:38the weekend festivities, and they caused some conflicts with the guys in the local Vegas area.
03:43Around this time, the discussions of the violence centered around racism.
03:47Even former commissioner David Stern said,
03:50Of course, race plays a part in the perceptions.
03:53Do you doubt that there were more African Americans in Las Vegas last week than at any time in its
03:58history, and some people felt threatened by that simply as a matter of culture?
04:02Reporter Jason Whitlock also stated that the whole event felt very uncomfortable because of racial perceptions.
04:09Because, quote,
04:10There were just way too many people who looked like legitimate thugs, or were legitimate thugs.
04:16Basically, many people who lived in Vegas or the Vegas area who were visiting there were not used to seeing
04:21hip-hop culture run rampant everywhere.
04:24And they connected those crimes and their behavior to their race, as most of them were African Americans.
04:30The worst incident happened with NFL player Adam Pacman Jones.
04:34One of the guys who was with him had a gun and opened fire outside of Ming's Gentleman's Club and
04:40Lounge, striking a bouncer named Tommy Urbanski and paralyzing him from the waist down.
04:46Yikes, that was the worst incident involving a professional athlete, and it wasn't even an NBA player.
04:52As punishment, Pacman Jones would get a 12-month suspended sentence, complete 200 hours of community service, and get some
04:59anger management counseling.
05:00So, yeah, as you can guess, the violence, the crimes, the racism in Vegas were the main headlines during that
05:07time.
05:08And they overshadowed an otherwise great weekend for NBA basketball.
05:12Another thing I should mention is that originally, Las Vegas hosted the All-Star Game with hopes that in the
05:18future, perhaps the city could get an NBA team.
05:21I know nowadays, many fans wonder why the NBA has not yet expanded to Las Vegas.
05:26It seems like the prime destination for a team.
05:29There's a ton of people, a ton of basketball fans, and of course, the city has the money to build
05:35a new arena.
05:36Every summer, Las Vegas hosts the NBA Summer League too, so the basketball influence in the area is really high.
05:43According to the former mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goldman, he said,
05:47The All-Star Game, as far as I was concerned, was a vehicle to get the commissioner to come to
05:52Las Vegas and talk with me.
05:54Now we're in a position to see an NBA franchise.
05:56It was clear that back then, the city did want an NBA team.
06:01But over a decade later, Vegas still does not have one.
06:05And this weekend in 2007 had a lot to do with it.
06:09Nowadays, there are still a lot of fans who talk about,
06:12Maybe Las Vegas could get an NBA team,
06:15But the reality is, they most likely won't.
06:17Or at least not in the near future.
06:20Barely anyone remembers or talks about this disaster of a weekend anymore,
06:24And some have no idea at all that this stuff even happened.
06:28But I guess you know the saying,
06:29What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
06:32Thank you everyone so much for watching,
06:34I hope you enjoyed that video,
06:36And I'll see you next time.
06:37Peace.
06:37Peace.
06:38Peace.
06:42Peace.
06:44Peace.
06:46Peace.
06:48Peace.
06:49Peace.
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