NBA picks New Orleans for 2014 All-Star game, which means Barclays Center has to wait (though 2015 would be a good bet)

I wrote in February that the chances for the Barclays Center to host the NBA 2013 All-Star game were long past, and 2014 was also in jeopardy, however much the league likes to showcase new arenas.

The NBA typically reveals its decision well more than a year in advance, I observed, and, based on past timing, the league was to pick its 2014 All-Star venue between May and August 2012, before the Brooklyn arena was even finished.

Well, it's happened even sooner. ESPN reported last night:

Three days after [New Orleans] Saints owner Tom Benson agreed to buy the [New Orleans] Hornets and sign a lease extension at New Orleans Arena, NBA commissioner David Stern came down to the bayou and announced that New Orleans will host the 2014 All-Star Game as "a reward to the good citizens of this city and the sponsors and ticket holders" who helped solidify the team's financial footing before it was sold.

The Barclays Center is likely a leading candidate for 2015, though the renovated Madison Square Garden would also be a contender.