2017 NBA All-Star Game

Result

MVP: Anthony Davis

Davis set the single-game All-Star scoring record with 52 points; this was the last game played under the traditional East vs. West conference format before the switch to captain-drafted teams.

Box score

MVP: Anthony Davis (52 points, an All-Star Game scoring record at the time).

Bench (10+ points): Isaiah Thomas (20), Kyle Lowry (19), Paul George (12), John Wall (12)

Bench (10+ points): Russell Westbrook (41), Klay Thompson (12), Marc Gasol (10)

Game context

The 2017 All-Star Game arrived under an unusual cloud of controversy before a single game had been played: the event had originally been awarded to Charlotte, but the NBA relocated it to New Orleans's Smoothie King Center after North Carolina passed House Bill 2, the so-called "bathroom bill" restricting transgender bathroom access, which the league deemed inconsistent with its values. The relocation was widely covered as the first major U.S. sporting event moved for explicitly political reasons since 1990, and it dominated the pre-game storyline even as the game itself, once played, delivered one of the greatest individual scoring performances in the event's history. Charlotte would eventually host a rescheduled All-Star Game two years later, in 2019, once the state repealed the underlying law. On the court, Anthony Davis of the host New Orleans Pelicans delivered a signature hometown performance, scoring 52 points to set a new single-game All-Star scoring record, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain's decades-old mark of 42 points (a record that would itself stand only until Jayson Tatum broke it with 55 points in 2023). Davis's outburst propelled the West to a 192-182 win, continuing the string of increasingly lopsided, high-scoring contests that had characterized the format's final seasons before a structural overhaul; this proved to be the last game played under the traditional East-versus-West format before the league moved to a captain's draft the following year. Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors coached the West, while Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics led the East, both representing conference-leading franchises that season. The move away from Charlotte also had a visible impact on the secondary ticket market: resale prices in New Orleans fell roughly 71 percent compared to the prior year's Toronto event by some reports, reflecting both the shorter planning window created by the relocation and New Orleans's smaller market compared to some other recent host cities. Attendance for the game itself was 15,701. The record-breaking 52-point outburst from Davis, combined with the East-West format's status as an increasingly one-sided, defense-optional exhibition by this point in its run, is frequently cited by league observers as a key data point in the NBA's subsequent decision to scrap the conference format altogether the following year in favor of the schoolyard-style draft designed to increase competitive balance and player buy-in. Davis's performance also came during a season in which the Pelicans, playing in front of their own hometown fans, were pushing for a playoff spot around the trade-deadline arrival of DeMarcus Cousins, giving the individual scoring record an extra layer of local celebration even though the Pelicans themselves would ultimately miss the postseason that year.

Sources

• Basketball-Reference — NBA All-Star Game History
• Basketball-Reference — NBA & ABA All-Star Game MVP (Kobe Bryant Trophy)