Over the weekend, NBA stars gathered in Chicago for another All-Star weekend extravaganza. The weekend featured a revamped format, controversial dunk contest, and apparently questions about OKC's status as a All-Star City.
Via The Oklahoman:
Trae Young was asked Saturday if he'd like to see the NBA All-Star game in Oklahoma City some day.
"It'd be super fun to get an All-Star game out in OKC," the Hawks guard and former Sooner said. "Being able to go back home and play in front of them would be fun. I think they gotta get maybe one or two more hotels to be able to get it going."
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt tweeted that Young was "spot-on."
"I get this question from time to time," Holt tweeted. "NBA requires 6,000 rooms near the arena and wants them to be four-star. Even with (the) Omni we're just not anywhere near that."
Russell Westbrook was asked the same question during media day, and he also gave the hotel response. As a result, it wouldn't shock me if the city decides to fund a MAPS 4 All-Stars that subsidizes a bunch of full service hotels and strip clubs just to attract an NBA All-Star Game for one year. That being said, I feel like we need to make some other improvements first to accommodate all the athletes, fans, journalists, and hanger-ons that come with hosting an event of this scale...