Dwyane Wade Jokes Breaking Kobe's Nose Made Players Stop Being Competitive in All-Star Game

Dwayne Wade believes breaking Kobe Bryant's nose at the 2012 NBA All-Star Game is why players today don't take the big event seriously.

During a visit to the Underground Lounge podcast, D Wade shared his thoughts on the NBA All-Star Game and why players today lack competitive spirit during the big event. According to Wade, All-Star Weekend has become more about the brands than the actual performance players are bringing to the court.

"Come to All-Star Weekend and see all the shit you got to do before you get to that game and see what if you going to want to play at 8:00 that night on that Sunday," said Wade. "You're not going to want to play and you at the arena at 3:00. You got 5 hours to be at the arena taking pictures, doing all these things before you got to go hoop. Who doing that?"

He continued, "It's not real life, and so it's hard for the guys to get up to want to compete when it's not about the game. It's about all the sponsorships, the partners, this and that. It's not about the actual game."

Lou Williams then piggybacked off Wade's statement and said that he had been very critical of All-Star Weekend as well. Lou Will said he wants players to be more competitive, like in the old days, and used Wade breaking Kobe's nose in 2012 as an example.

"How can we get it back to where it is competitive, where we loved it," said Williams. "Like I even talk about you breaking Kobe nose."

Wade replied, "I think that was the end of the competitiveness right there. I think I fucked the All Star game up everybody. It was when I hit Kobe. Everybody like 'No, we not playing no more defense.' My bad, my bad y'all."

In the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, held in Orlando, Florida, Wade committed the first flagrant foul in the event's history when he cracked Kobe in the face while driving to the basket. The Black Mamba suffered a bloody, broken nose, plus a concussion. In a conversation with Kevin Garnett, Wade revealed that Kobe loved how Wade injured him and warned him that he'd "see" him very soon.

"I call him, not maliciously," Wade recalled. "I called him and said, 'Yo Kob,' and he was like, 'Bro, I love it.' ... He's like, 'I love it. I'll see you in a couple of days.' And I'm like, 'Oh snap.' And he gave it to me, too, boy."