Chicago to host NBA All-Star Game in 2020

News broke Thursday afternoon that Chicago will be hosting the NBA All-Star game in 2020, the first time in 32 years.

Apparently there will be a press conference tomorrow with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel. Early speculation was that the NBA was finally going to wrest the GarPax regime from their lifetime contracts and preserve a crown jewel franchise, but those rumors turned out to be unfounded!

Indeed it’s been a very long time since Chicago hosted this event. The subject was last broached in 2012, when Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf was very much against it. Unclear what changed in the time since.