No hoops for you: Kentucky Derby Festival cancels high school basketball all-star game

The annual Kentucky Derby Festival Basketball Classic, which featured recruits from college basketball programs nationwide, has been canceled for 2018 due to low attendance and financial struggles.

Festival officials announced the decision Thursday and said the basketball game could return to the festival schedule in the future. The Kentucky Derby Festival Basketball Classic began in 1973 and bills itself as the oldest high-school all-star game in the country. The event also featured the Night of Future Stars, where fans could see the athletes compete in dunk and 3-point-shooting contests.

But attendance at the game has dropped and in recent years barely eclipsed 5,000, according to a news release.

“The Basketball Classic is a Derby Festival tradition and it’s hard to remember a time when it wasn’t part of our spring calendar,” Mike Berry, Kentucky Derby Festival President & CEO, said in the release. “This was not a decision we made lightly. It’s our mission to produce events for the entire community and in this case the community was speaking with their feet.”

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The game was also canceled in 1983 as a result of declining attendance.

The event has featured many players who went on to professional careers, including Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, Darrell Griffith, Donovan Mitchell, Russ Smith, Terry Rozier and Victor Oladipo.

Current University of Louisville players Malik Williams, Darius Perry and Jordan Nwora have also played in the Classic along with University of Kentucky's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Danielle Lerner: 502-582-4042; dlerner@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @Danielle_Lerner. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/daniellel