CLEVELAND — On Sunday, Cleveland played host to several of the best players in NBA history as the league celebrated its 75th anniversary at halftime of the 2022 All-Star Game.
And with Cleveland having also hosted the NBA's 50th-anniversary celebration in 1997, one of the members of the 75th Anniversary Team thinks that it would only be right for the league to return for its centennial celebration in 25 years.
"It would be cool if 25 years from now when they do the top 100 that it's back here," said LeBron James, who hit the game-winning shot in Sunday's All-Star Game.
James, obviously, has his biases.
As a native of Akron who has spent 11 of his 19 seasons in the NBA as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, James will forever be linked to Northeast Ohio. And as the moment he shared with Michael Jordan during Sunday showed, the four-time MVP will forever be one of the focal points of such celebrations.
"I'll probably never forget this moment," James said of the ceremony to honor the league's 75th Anniversary Team. "It's something that I'm glad my kids got to witness. Then when my grandkids show up at some point, I'll be able to show them some footage of what their granddad was able to accomplish when he played the game of basketball."
As for the prospect of Cleveland potentially hosting another All-Star Game for the league's 100-year celebration -- which would take place in 2047 --, there's reason to think it's feasible. While plenty can change between now and then, it's clear that the idea of the NBA hosting its 75th anniversary in the same place that it celebrated its 50th and 35th anniversaries was attractive to the league and there's no reason to think that the centennial celebration would be any different.
"I was here as part of the league for our 50th Anniversary, and there's just this incredible symmetry of being back here in Cleveland again for this great event," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said this weekend.