The NBA All-Star game has come and gone from Las Vegas, and nobody got killed.

Shot?

Oh yeah, a few people got shot.

Mostly after Nelly and his posse started throwing around thousands of dollars at a local strip club. Mayhem ensued, shots in the parking lot. Hey, it's Vegas. Coulda been anybody, right?

By the way, Nelly is a minority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, so maybe David Stern will be calling him in to New York for a little sit-down.

At least Stern has seemingly gotten over his gamble-a-phobia regarding an NBA franchise someday alighting in Las Vegas. For years Stern was highly skeptical of the prospect, unless local bookmakers volunteered to take sweet "Association Action" off the board entirely.

Currently, NBA steam accounts for about 15% of the $1 Billion "handle" on sports wagering in Clark County according to the bookmakers. So as they say: "You do the math."

It's not that Stern is wild about having a team in Vegas, it's just that he's now willing to pass the final call over to the owners for a vote. I'm guessing they'll eventually say yes.

I agree with Mayor Oscar Goodman that a franchise there would work, and work quite well. For those that want to point to Vegas' smallish 2 million local population, I concur with Goodman's number of 40 million.

That's the number of tourists who come rolling through Sin City every year.

There's no way on earth that sports fans in town for a three-day bender (the perfect length, anything less is too short, anything more and you're broke!) won't think about rolling out for a few hours to catch some Association slams.

In fact, the local team may sell out, if not for the fact that casinos will be tossing NBA comps around like beads at Mardi Gras. Will it be a deep and rabid home fan base?

Hell, no. But it's not like the Memphis Grizzlies or New Orleans Hornets enjoy that right now. So the Las Vegas Gamblers will immediately be no worse than at least a half dozen existing franchises.

So what about the gambling? Fine. Let's talk about the gambling.

To think that somehow a local NBA team would be compromised by the point spreads is a joke. For starters, this ain't UNLV in the 1990's when Moses Scurry and Anderson Hunt were photographed in a whale's hot-tub. Those kids played for NOTHING. They had plenty of reason (and I'm not saying they did) to shave points for cash under the bubbling water.

NBA players, meanwhile, have already hit the lottery several times over. Just look at what a seven-point, six-rebound center makes these days!

Why on earth would they shave points?

To date, neither David Stern, nor any other soapbox-straddling columnist who opposes the Vegasization of the NBA because of gambling has actually painted the "nightmare scenario" that might occur.

Seriously, paint me a picture. What could happen?

Taking the Vegas games off the board in the NBA would do more harm than good. When Arizona State was shaving points with Stevin "Hedake" Smith back in the early 1990s, it was the CASINOS themselves who blew the lid on the scandal.

Extraordinarily large cash stared flowing in on random Pac-10 mid-week games involving the Sun Devils. Odds makers started to watch them like a hawk. Funny things were going down.

The whole affair unraveled quickly after that.

Currently, the NCAA even allows the books to post money on both Nevada and UNLV. So if the stuffed shirts aren't bothered by it at the NCAA, it's absurd for the NBA to get their shorts all up in a John Stockton-like wad.

Give Vegas an NBA team. Just don't let any players sign for casino credits while sitting at the felt, and don't suggest Charles Barkley for general manager.