NBA All-Star Weekend begins with salute to Oscar Robertson

The first day of official NBA All-Star Weekend activity in Indianapolis included a significant salute to Oscar Roberston, who’s widely considered to be the best basketball player to emerge from the city.

Thursday night’s Tip-Off public celebration at Bicentennial Unity Plaza north of Gainbridge Fieldhouse included the announcement that a statue of Robertson will be installed on the grounds at Crispus Attucks High School, where he led the basketball team to two state championships in the 1950s. The team in 1955 became the first all-Black squad in the nation to win an open-class state championship.

The NBA and Pacers Sports & Entertainment are commissioning the statue that’s expected to be on display beginning in 2025. Indianapolis artist Ryan Feeney will create the sculpture. Feeney’s past work includes the 9-foot statue of Peyton Manning outside Lucas Oil Stadium.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced plans for the Robertson statue with 85-year-old Robertson and Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon onstage at the Tip-Off, a first-time event on the NBA All-Star calendar.

Few details about the Tip-Off were announced in advance, leaving room for a surprise performance by rapper-singer T-Pain and the unexpected arrival of Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton via a two-seat IndyCar ride that began at Monument Circle.

Indianapolis 500 veteran Conor Daly drove Haliburton to his first public appearance in what’s shaping up to be an action-packed weekend for the point guard. Following the Tip-Off, Haliburton was scheduled to appear as a guest on a special presentation of Adrian Wojnarowski’s ESPN podcast at Broad Ripple’s Vogue music venue.

A timely arrival might have been a challenge, because downtown traffic was congested Thursday night—and most NBA All-Star Weekend attendees aren’t expected to arrive until Friday.

Light snow is predicted for Friday in Indianapolis, with high wind gusts expected Saturday and Sunday. The weekend’s temperatures are predicted to range from the teens to mid-40s.

On Sunday, Haliburton will be in the starting lineup for the Eastern Conference when the NBA All-Star Game is played at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. On Saturday, he’s competing in the Starry 3-Point Contest and the Kia Skills Challenge.

The NBA shared a glimpse Thursday of the LED basketball court being used at Lucas Oil Stadium for Friday’s Ruffles All-Star Celebrity game as well as State Farm All-Star Saturday Night competitions.

During a preview for media members, the NBA showcased the transition from the appearance of a conventional basketball court to animated star graphics. A crew member demonstrated an on-person tracker that triggered a visible path when he walked across the surface.

“It’s basically a television screen that we’re playing basketball on,” said Carlton Myers, the NBA’s head of live production and entertainment.

Myers said graphics will be used to enhance on-court action. He explained that raised dots on the glass surface will provide traction for players in the celebrity game and NBA stars battling for the slam dunk and 3-point titles.

NBA officials said Thursday that 25,000 attendees are expected for Friday’s celebrity game at Lucas Oil Stadium and 35,000 attendees are expected for Saturday’s competitions.

No previous NBA All-Star Weekend used an LED court.

“The technology advanced to the point where we feel comfortable enough to put our players and celebrities on the court,” Myers said.

Florida native T-Pain, the surprise musical guest at the Tip-Off event, will stick around Indianapolis to perform Friday at the NBA Crossover fan event at the Indiana Convention Center. A 6,000-capacity Crossover concert hall debuted Thursday night in conjunction with an “NBA on TNT” telecast originating at the convention center. Machine Gun Kelly and Diesel, Shaquille O’Neal’s DJ persona, performed.

T-Pain offered a lengthy medley of hits at the Tip-Off event, which was free to attend with advance registration.

In addition to Robertson, who played 14 NBA seasons for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks, the Tip-Off featured appearances by Indiana State University alum and Boston Celtics icon Larry Bird and several former Pacers players—including Rik Smits, Jermaine O’Neal, Darnell Hillman and Al Harrington.

Attendees Yasmeen Yerlett and Baleigh Tolksdorf praised the Tip-Off program hosted by Indiana Fever great Tamika Catchings and hometown comedian and actor Mike Epps.

“It was amazing,” Yerlett said. “You got your little drops of dopamine from the concert, the car and the crowd.”

“The energy was the perfect way to kickstart such a cool weekend,” Tolksdorf said.

At the convention center, more than 40 NBA sponsors have set up shop for this year’s Crossover event, a record for the league’s flagship All-Star fan attraction.

The companies range from soft drink Starry, to crypto company Coinbase, to the Jordan athletic brand and comprise at least 55 so-called activations—or dedicated spaces—across more than 250,000 square feet inside the southern portion of the Indiana Convention Center.

The space also includes a court for the NBA Rising Stars game on Sunday, more than one dozen half-basketball courts and around two-dozen pop-a-shot games.

Joey Graziano, NBA senior vice president and head of global event strategy, said the league is bullish on this year’s event, which is expected to draw more than 60,000 people over the next three days.

“The great part is we had partners who have never partnered with us at NBA Crossover—more than 10 marketing partners who are part of this for the first time—and I think it’s because they see the rabid fandom,” said Graziano. “They recognize that things are different in Indiana, Hoosiers are going to come out and represent, so we’re excited for this weekend. I think we could have filled more space if we had it. We had to turn [additional activations] away at the end.”

San Francisco-based Coinbase is among those using space at Crossover for the first time. The company, which provides users with a cryptocurrency wallet, has a space-themed basketball challenge that allows participants to test their shooting skills against a clock, with top performances winning prizes and special non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, for their digital wallets.

“For us, the partnership in the sports space is something new and something where we’re ramping up our investments over time,” said Gary Sun, vice president of marketing for Coinbase. “This matches our broader advertising strategy from television, and now we want to get people closer to all the ins and outs of crypto.”

NBA Crossover is open to the public Friday from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., with three entry time periods throughout the afternoon. Tickets are $35 per adult and $20 per child. VIP tickets are $150.