It’s no longer a game, it’s a tournament. Desperate times, desperate measures seems to be the prevailing thought around the dwindling competitive spirit at the NBA All-Star Game.
In a bid to rev up the compete level, Adam Silver and Co. announced a radical departure from tradition as four teams will compete in three games on Sunday, Feb. 16 in the Golden State Warriors‘ home arena.
The official 2025 All-Star Game format: pic.twitter.com/ceYnX3l6r6
— Esfandiar Baraheni (@JustEsBaraheni) December 17, 2024
There will still be 24 All-Stars selected, but they will now be divided into three eight-player teams. The fourth team will be the winner of the Rising Stars game, traditionally known as the Rookie-Sophomore game. The three games are two semifinals followed by the final. The game itself is a race to 40 points.
Four team managers have already been announced, and they will be TNT analysts Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Candace Parker, and Kenny Smith. Parker will manage the Rising Stars champion.
Kevin Durant was asked for his thoughts on the changes at a Phoenix Suns practice Tuesday and did not shy away from revealing his true feelings.
“I hate it, absolutely hate it, I think it’ll be terrible,” Durant said. “All-Star game, format’s changing, it’s terrible in my opinion and we should just go back to East vs. West, just play a game. I think we’ve been trying to bring that flare back somehow into All-Star weekend but I think we should just keep it traditional.”
I asked Kevin Durant what he thought about the new format for the NBA All-Star Game: “I hate it. Absolutely hate it. Terrible….We should just go back to East-West.” pic.twitter.com/T7owR5aJY7
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) December 17, 2024
There have been several experiments in recent years after feeling that the traditional East vs. West had run its course. The leading vote-getters were automatically made team captains who would then draft fellow All-Stars to their team playground style.
After Kobe Bryant passed away in 2020, the league decided to honor him by making fourth quarters untimed and a target score of 24 points added to whichever team was leading after three quarters. The number 24 was a nod to Bryant’s jersey number in the second half of his career.
Last year, the game returned to an East vs. West format but the game was an extremely dispiriting display as there was no defense played at all and the game ended in a blowout. A final score of 211-186 proved that showcase game had reached a sorry state.
As added incentive, each player on the All-Star winning team will receive $125,000, each player on the runner-up team will receive $50,000, and the players from each of the losing semifinalists will receive $25,000.
All-Star voting begins on Thursday, Dec. 19 and that format remains unchanged. Fans can vote daily for three frontcourt and two backcourt players from each conference. The formula for selecting All-Star starters will be 50 percent fan vote, 25 percent media panel and 25 percent current player vote. NBA head coaches then vote for the 14 reserve All-Stars.
It is an interesting choice to not change how the voting is done. With three teams in action now, there will actually be 15 starters and nine reserves.
