HOUSTON

For the greatest basketball player on earth, All-Star weekend is not a game, but a marathon, a dizzying three-day slog through news media scrums, promotional appearances, charity events, business meetings and more news media scrums.

The merry-go-round of obligations starts Friday morning in the host city and does not end until long after the final buzzer Sunday night.

On Saturday afternoon, LeBron James was due at a local Boys and Girls Club, to help refurbish a gymnasium, which for James is an annual All-Star weekend tradition. The boys and girls expected James at 2:30 p.m. He arrived at 3:15. This was one case where a star athlete’s tardiness was a mark of virtue, not casual disregard.

James, the N.B.A.’s reigning most valuable player, the engine of the Miami Heat’s 2012 championship, had been hunkered down in a hotel conference room, with about 40 of his fellow players, stars and nonstars alike, working diligently to repair their scandalized union.