National Basketball Association

The Latest: All-Star competition tips off with card game

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:39 p.m. ET

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TORONTO (AP) The Latest on Friday's events at the NBA's All-Star Weekend in Toronto (all times local):

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11:45 a.m.

Chris Paul looked at a teammate, then glared at an opponent. Dwyane Wade made what he thought was a great play, then yelled in disbelief when it didn't work out to his liking.

The games have started at All-Star weekend - and no, not of the basketball variety.

Wade and the sock company Stance hosted a Spades tournament on Thursday night and the card game was attended by plenty of current and former players, including Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson.

It was the second annual tournament, and much like last year's debut in New York, the players took the game very - very - seriously.

Before he sat down to play with his teammate (and wife) Gabrielle Union, Wade says players don't turn off the competitive fires that fuel them on the court, explaining that ''competitive people like winning, no matter what we do.''

- Tim Reynolds

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10:20 a.m.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has opened All-Star weekend by paying homage to the league's history in Toronto.

Silver spoke Friday morning at the NBA All-Star Technology Summit, and began his remarks by reminding attendees that the league's enormous success globally stems in part from what happened in Toronto on Nov. 1, 1946 - when the first game in what was then called the Basketball Association of America was played.

Silver is calling this weekend ''a very special one for us in the NBA, a homecoming.''

It was in Toronto on that night nearly 70 years ago when the New York Knicks visited and beat the Toronto Huskies 68-66. The game was played at Maple Leaf Gardens - ''which, if you're curious, is now a grocery store,'' Silver says

- Tim Reynolds