David Thompson was excited to be back — the Skywalker returning to the NBA All-Star Game for the first time in three years — this time at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
“It was always a big game in L.A.,” Thompson remembered. “ It was exciting to come out and play because the stars were always out.”
In 1983, before the All-Star Game tipped off, Thompson was especially eager to meet one of those stars — a singer from his favorite group, the Jackson Five.
Forty-plus years later, the Hall of Famer still remembers that pregame encounter. When you meet Marlon Jackson, Michael’s older brother, you don’t forget it.
“Marlon Jackson came around and said hello to some of the guys, which was great,” Thompson told The Athletic. “And then Marvin Gaye, singing that great national anthem before the games. That was an awesome event.”
Gaye’s anthem remains the most enduring moment from the 1983 All-Game — the last to be played in Inglewood before the LA Clippers host their first All-Star Game this Sunday at the Intuit Dome.
Julius Erving won his second All-Star MVP, leading the East to a 132-123 win. His excellence is still fresh in his peers’ minds. But Gaye’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is often what they think of when asked about 1983.
The players on the court didn’t know he’d be performing, and they definitely didn’t know it would be a modernized version of the song.
“That became probably one of the most recognized national anthems — never heard it sung like that before,” George Gervin remembered. “They announced ‘Marvin Gaye’ and we were like ‘Aww yeah.’ He’s a creative master, and the way he sung it, ain’t nobody else could sing it like he did.”
The 1983 game was the second played at the Forum in Inglewood. This year will be the seventh time the game has been played in the Los Angeles area.
The setting. The celebrities. The talent on the court — it mixed together for a game that the participants all wanted to be a part of, and genuinely win.
“We’re at the Forum,” Gervin said. “You know it’s one of them arenas where we all looked forward to playing in as players. We were geared up. You’re in Hollywood, and in Hollywood, they all show up.”
The standard-definition video of the game that lives online is sharp enough that you can see a level of care and competitiveness that doesn’t exist in modern All-Star games. Fans were engaged from the tip. Possessions into the game, Larry Bird flew into the stands for a loose ball.
“Guys actually played to win,” Thompson said.
Thompson, playing in his final All-Star Game, started for the West with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Maurice Lucas and Alex English. The East started Maurice Cheeks, reigning NBA MVP Moses Malone, Isiah Thomas, Bird and Erving.
Abdul-Jabbar scored 20. Thomas had 19. Johnson set a then-record with 16 assists and added five steals.
“That was awesome, to play with Magic,” Thompson said. “It was my first time playing with Magic in an All-Star Game. And he hit me with some good passes on the fast break to get a couple of dunks and communicate me with a nice pass going down the lane for a dunk. So it was exciting to play with those Laker guys. They were so dominant during that time.”
The next year, Johnson would best his own record, dishing out 22 assists — a mark that still stands.
“I knew Magic didn’t just love the game — he was in love in with the game,” Gervin said. “And he made everyone better.”
Still, in 1983, no one was as good as Erving.
“Magic, he had a great game even though we lost. Kareem played well. Isaiah Thomas played well, and of course, Dr. J was Dr. J,” Thompson said. “Doc was still good for a game like that. He could still get up and could show that he was the best player on the floor. He could do some things that other people couldn’t do with his big hands, the way he could move the ball around.”
One play, in particular, stood out to him.
“He had one dunk on my friend, Artis Gilmore,” Thompson said. “He went up and Artis had it blocked, but he moved the ball over around his hand and dunked the basketball. Everybody was shaking their head. (Gilmore) was on my team. He was a good friend of mine and I didn’t wanna laugh, but I was impressed with that.”
Thompson would be out of the league following the next season, a combination of injuries and drug addiction prematurely ending his Hall of Fame career. Gervin played in two more All-Star Games before retiring.
But it was the younger generation in the league, Johnson, Bird, Thomas — and soon, Michael Jordan — that would carry it through for the rest of the decade and beyond. The next year, All-Star Weekend was born, with Bird and Jordan adding to their legacies in the 3-point and slam-dunk contests.
“It was their turn,” Gervin said. “I retired in ’86. I had spent my better years already. I was on the downhill, whether I wanted to face it or not. You only get your turn and you have to accept that. … You’ve only got so long when you’re on top and then comes someone else.”
Sometimes, though, the best memories come at the end.
At the end of the weekend, Thompson and his family returned their rental car in Los Angeles. That’s where they met Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier.
“We got to meet him,” Thompson said. “And for an older Black man like my father, truly, it was like seeing a hero in person. And he told my father, ‘You must be really proud of your son.’
“He talked about that forever.”