Are local NBA fans restless?

Local NBA fans are not storming the gates of NBA Philippines, the cable television providers and the ABS-CBN network, yet.

But with the season past its quarter point, expect anger to rise while the impasse over money to show games of the world’s premier league on a regular basis continues among the TV outlets and the NBA country office.“As mentioned previously, we are not in a position to talk about active discussions but continue to assess opportunities to optimize the distribution of our programming,” NBA Philippines told the news website Rappler in the vaguest of terms last month.

But oddly enough, NBA Philippines struck a deal with CNN Philippines recently to show select regular season games along with the station’s diet of news and public affairs programming to whet the appetite of NBA diehards somewhat.

But the faithful no doubt will surely blow their top should they miss the All-Star Game in Chicago on Feb. 16.This year’s Game will be interesting, to say the least, because it will possibly showcase the most fresh faces since 2010 when nine first timers were selected. This phenomenon is due to numerous injuries, the collapse of the Golden State Warriors and significant superstar movement over the summer.

Meantime, in the run up to the All-Stars, nba.com continues its retrospective of the decade just ended.

It said that the last 10 years featured “the rise of generationally talented players like Anthony Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the prime of league superstars such as LeBron James and Kevin Durant and the last ride for several future Hall of Famers, including Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade.”

To mark the passing of an era, nba.com selected an all-decade team of 15 players split into three teams of five.

You will be surprised that the first team does not include Bryant, although there is little question he is the greatest player over the last decade.

In the eyes of nba.com, the first team consists of Steph Curry, James Harden, James, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard.

In case you are wondering, Bryant ended up on the third team along with Wade, Paul George, LaMarcus Aldridge and Antetokounmpo.

And the middle team? Well, the list includes Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Davis, Blake Griffin and Carmelo Anthony.“Lambasted for their lack of postseason success, each member of this team still managed to showcase extraordinary skills during an era replete with star power, according to nba.com.