INDIANAPOLIS — For the All-Stars, it’s fun to have all your best peers gather together in one place. It just doesn’t happen anywhere else. But unless you’re a first-timer shocked you’re suddenly teammates with LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo, it’s no longer a pinch-yourself moment.

Until the legends show up. That’s how Jayson Tatum felt when commissioner Adam Silver walked into the locker room with Larry Bird and Julius Erving. There he was, Larry Legend in the flesh, lecturing him and his fellow All-Stars. This was Tatum’s chance to finally meet the Boston Celtics icon. He had never even been in the same room as him.

But when Bird wrapped his speech and Tatum thought he was going to finally introduce himself, the Hall of Famer vanished. Fortunately, Celtics PR later spotted Bird courtside and Tatum ran over to finally get some face time with the franchise hero.

greatness ☘️ pic.twitter.com/spgt9FnJBX

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 19, 2024

“I got a chance to go meet him and tell him how much of an honor it was to meet him. He told me he was looking forward to meeting me. So that was crazy to hear him say that,” Tatum said.

“He’s a lot taller than I thought he was. But obviously what he means to the game, what he means to the city of Boston and the Celtics, he’s the ultimate Celtic.”

It was a good reminder of what he and Jaylen Brown are playing for. Celtics history is talked about ad nauseam, but it suddenly feels so important when you’re standing next to it and it’s a little taller than you expected. It’s a reminder of just how deep and significant the legacy is.

Tatum has spent the past seven years trying to win a title. Bill Russell once won seven in a row. While being an All-Star is a celebration of his success, Tatum and Brown know the rings are the only thing that truly counts in Boston when it’s all said and done. But the All-Star game gave them a chance to show out for their franchise and city, trying to honor the legacy Bird carved before them.

“I think it’s just another platform to continue to raise for yourself but also raise for the city of Boston, just represent,” Brown said. “I think that’s what we kind of look at it as. That’s what we’ve become.”

For Tatum, it was just a relief to not have to go against Brown again.

“It’s much better being on the same team with JB. It’s what I’m used to,” Tatum said. “We’ve competed against each other in practice for seven years now, so I’m kind of tired of doing that.”

Now all they have to do is make the All-Star game not suck. It’s terrible and we all know it.

Last year, Brown said it wasn’t even really basketball. At least in Salt Lake City, the Jays gave us some ironic competition to make it feel a little real.

The only real juice this game had was the home crowd loving Tyrese Haliburton making it rain to open the game and Karl Anthony-Towns chasing a 50 burger. The defense was laughable, per usual, and both teams were pushing the definition of chucking 3s to new heights.

Not every player felt something absolutely has to change. But Brown, an NBPA VP and one of the league’s thought leaders knows the game deserves better than this.

“Yeah, there were some discussions. There were definitely some. I’m not sure how successful that was, but there was definitely some discussions,” Brown said. “I guess guys are trying to figure out how to do that at the same time as having fun, being safe, being injury-free. I guess more solutions need to be had to figure that out.”

Financial incentives are the usual carrot to dangle, though it’s hard to find an amount that would motivate the league’s highest-paid players that wouldn’t be fiscally irresponsible. Maybe if they gave the players a one-night exemption to bet on the game, they could decide just how much they want to motivate themselves. But for many legal and ethical reasons, that probably will never happen.

But Jalen Brunson said they were gunning for 200 points. Anthony Edwards admitted nobody is really there to compete. It doesn’t sound like the new generation has any ideas on how to fix what should be the league’s great spectacle quite yet.

Inside Brown’s dunk contest strategy

The dunk contest has long been the crown jewel of All-Star Weekend, but the gem has lost its luster for years now. Star power has been scarce while corny props and guest appearances couldn’t cover up for dwindling creativity.

Enter Brown. The first All-Star to enter the contest in six years, one of the league’s preeminent posterizers was going to show the world what he could do if there wasn’t a 7-footer in his way to the rim. The results were solid yet unspectacular.

While it didn’t go as hoped being the star to finally step up when so many others felt much more to lose than gain by joining the dunk contest, he was clearly at peace with how things went.

“We still had fun. I put my name in the hat,” Brown said. “It was a little bit uncomfortable to participate in that contest, out of my comfort zone, but I wouldn’t change anything. I went out there, tried to compete. Tried to bring some attention to it. Didn’t go the way I expected, but that’s a part of it sometimes.”

Between the Dominque Wilkins tribute that the broadcast somehow missed live and mistiming the Dee Brown homage, Jaylen Brown’s dunk portfolio was full of spectacle but missed the authority he usually delivers.

According to a person with knowledge of Brown’s strategy, his first dunk, representing his hometown Atlanta and Wilkins, was supposed to have him tap the ball behind his head to give it a more dramatic effect before going into the windmill. But Brown said after the contest the court felt a little slippery, which likely contributed to the dunk losing a little flair.

For his alley-oop dunk from Tatum, Brown intended to do the Dee Brown eyes-covered dunk the whole way. But he was too late to cover his eyes when the toss from Tatum went up over his head. While the whole show he and Tatum put on with YouTube star Kai Cenat taking a selfie added to the showmanship of the play, the dunk itself ended up being your run-of-the-mill alley-oop over someone in a chair.

The fans booed, maybe as much for the projection of the TD Garden parquet on the LED floor, but it was apparent the stadium was not impressed when Brown advanced. Things then got weirder when he threw on the Brewster Academy jersey of his late friend and mentee Terrence Clarke while the arena MC erroneously repeated that they were high school teammates.

The confusion culminated when the Celtics All-Star broke out the Michael Jackson glove in recognition of the Gary, Ind., legend for his final dunk. While the MC did a good job highlighting the “Jaylen has no left hand” bit, the Jackson connection wasn’t made apparent.

“He’s from Indiana, so I wanted to pay some homage to Indiana for the dunk contest,” Brown said. “But I think that went over — I don’t think the fans picked up on that.”

All in all, Brown brought creative storytelling throughout his repertoire, but a few important details just didn’t quite connect and the dunks were all just good. With Mac McClung blowing everyone away by jumping over Shaq on his final dunk, Brown ended up coming just short.

But at least there was a star out there, something the league hasn’t seen in way too long.

(Photo of Jaylen Brown: Darron Cummings / Associated Press)