Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant pushed back Saturday against complaints that the NBA All-Star Game has lost intensity over the years.

“I just feel like fans and media need something to complain about,” Durant said Saturday during All-Star media day. “And the All-Star Game don’t make them feel like they made them feel back when they was kids, so they need something to complain about. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, to be honest.”

Durant added that he has done research on past All-Star Games and hadn’t found “the intensity the older generation had been talking about.”

“The last couple of weeks, no lie, I’ve watched probably the intro and at least the first quarter of every All-Star Game from the ’70s up until the late ’90s,” Durant said. “I wanted to see what the big deal was, and if it was really that much intensity, like Game 7, like y’all said it was back then. And it wasn’t.”

Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards expressed agreement with Durant while watching his media availability from the crowd.

Durant’s comments come after he expressed doubt as to whether Team World stars like Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić would be putting effort into the All-Star Game.

“Let’s go back and look at what they do at the All-Star Game. Is that competition?” Durant asked earlier this week.

Durant continued, “These two dudes out there, Luka and Jokić, they don’t care about the game at all.”

Whatever the reason, the NBA has seen a dip in All-Star viewership ratings over the past three years.

That included a historic low during a 2023 NBA All-Star Game that former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone described as “the worst basketball game ever played.”

The 2025 edition of the event ranked as the second least-watched All-Star Game in NBA history, ahead of only the 2023 event, per Front Office Sports’ Colin Salao.

The NBA is hoping to spark a surge in viewership ahead of the 2026 All-Star Game with a new format that will see two United States teams take on an international squad in a round-robin tournament.

Durant will play alongside LeBron James with USA Stripes as the NBA looks to reignite excitement around the All-Star Game starting Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.