Why hasn’t Miami hosted NBA All-Star Weekend since 1990? Also, a Heat injury update

As the NBA held All-Star Weekend in snowy Indianapolis last week, Miami hosted the 2024 Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show.

While snow piled up as NBA players, coaches, executives, staff members and fans converged on downtown Indianapolis, the Miami International Boat Show featured 500 boat exhibits on the water along Biscayne Bay.

That stark dichotomy has some wondering why the NBA hasn’t held All-Star Weekend in Miami in more than three decades.

“If I could change something about All-Star Weekend, they wouldn’t be in cold cities anymore,” Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George said with a laugh during All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis.

While cold-weather cities like Chicago (in 2020), Cleveland (in 2022), Salt Lake City (in 2023) and Indianapolis (in 2024) have been the home for recent All-Star Weekends, Miami has hosted the event just once. That came in 1990 when the All-Star Game was held at Miami Arena.

There’s a reason for that, though.

The Miami International Boat Show is held on the same weekend as the NBA All-Star Game — Presidents’ Day weekend. The boat show uses the Miami Beach Convention Center and takes up a large chunk of hotel rooms in the area.

According to sources familiar with the situation, there has been recent dialogue between the Heat and NBA regarding the possibility of putting All-Star Weekend in Miami at some point in the future. But those talks have not yet produced much progress.

“I think it would be dope just to have that,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said when asked about the possibility of Miami hosting a future All-Star Game. ”As a matter of fact, we should just do it with the boat show. … I would love to have it in Miami just because I feel like our fans deserve it.”

Even moving All-Star Weekend to a different week to avoid the boat show conflict, which the NBA has been reluctant to do up to this point, wouldn’t eliminate all the logistical challenges.

The NFL usually holds the Super Bowl the week before Presidents’ Day Weekend, so that rules out that weekend for the NBA All-Star Game. In addition, Kaseya Center usually hosts Premio Lo Nuestro, a Latin music awards show, during the week after Presidents’ Day Weekend.

Among the NBA’s updated requirements for cities to host All-Star Weekend, according to a recent report by The Oklahoman, include 7,250 hotel rooms and a minimum of three five-star hotels, a convention center with 650,000 square feet of exhibition space and 75 nonstop domestic flights and at least 20 international flights.

When asked about these requirements, an NBA spokesperson said to the Miami Herald: “There is a variety of criteria that the NBA evaluates when selecting future host cities for NBA All-Star. Event venues, hotel availability and access to a major international airport are just three among many other resources necessary to ensure the event’s success. As NBA All-Star [Weekend] grows, so does the infrastructure needed to support the event footprint and the influx of fans into the host market. The NBA consistently works with all interested team markets on meeting that criteria.”

The positive news for George and others who want to avoid spending a mid-February weekend in freezing temperatures is the next two NBA All-Star Weekends will be held in California. The 2025 All-Star Game will be played at Chase Center in San Francisco and the 2026 All-Star Game will be played at the Intuit Dome, which is currently being built to be the new home of the Clippers, in Los Angeles.

No other future All-Star Weekends have a location yet, and the obstacles that come with having one in Miami remain.

“I don’t know what they’re waiting on. We got the best city in the world,” Miami native and retired Heat captain Udonis Haslem said. “I heard it’s because of the boat show. But I don’t own any boats, so that doesn’t matter to me.”

LOWRY’S DEBUT

The Heat traded Kyle Lowry on Jan. 23. And four weeks later, Lowry played in his first game since the deal.

Lowry finished his Philadelphia 76ers debut with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting on threes, four rebounds and five assists in 25 minutes off the bench in Thursday’s 110-96 loss to the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center.

While Lowry made it clear he wanted to play as a starter during his Heat tenure, he sounds more accepting of a reserve role with the 76ers.

“I’m excited to be here,” Lowry, 37, said earlier this week when asked about playing off the bench with the 76ers. “I understand my role and my job. My job is to make sure that Tyrese [Maxey] gets better, this team gets to a point where they haven’t been in a while, and that’s my job. I’m gonna do everything I can to make this team and this organization better. No matter what the role is, what the minutes are, what the situation is, my job is to be a professional and help Tyrese get better, help this team get better, help coach get better, and help everybody get better.”

The Heat traded Lowry and a lottery-protected first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets to acquire Terry Rozier. Lowry, who is a Philadelphia native, didn’t play in a game for the Hornets after the trade and agreed to a buyout to eventually sign with his hometown 76ers.

INJURY REPORT

For its first game after the All-Star break on Friday night against the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center, the Heat ruled out Josh Richardson (right shoulder dislocation), Orlando Robinson (lower back spasms), Rozier (right knee sprain) and Dru Smith (season-ending right knee surgery).

Richardson and Rozier both traveled to New Orleans with the team for the start of the four-game trip, and Rozier was able to take part in Friday’s morning shootaround in New Orleans.

Tyler Herro (right foot discomfort) was listed as questionable for the Heat’s matchup against the Pelicans, but Herro will play on Friday.

The Pelicans, which defeated the Houston Rockets in New Orleans on Thursday, ruled out Brandon Ingram, Jalen Crutcher, Dyson Daniels, Malcolm Hill, E.J. Liddell and Dereon Seabron.