The All-Star Game in the NBA has a new look. At the Warriors’ Chase Center in 2025, the NBA will use a mini-tournament format with four teams: the champions of Friday’s Rising Stars Challenge and three NBA All-Star teams.
The three clubs’ “honorary general managers”—Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith of TNT’s “Inside the NBA”—selected their lineups earlier this month.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Nikola Jokic, and other All-Star mainstays will be on the court on Sunday night, along with rookies Victor Wembanyama, Cade Cunningham, and Tyler Herro.
Here are some specifics about the modifications to the All-Star Game.
Three NBA All-Star teams and the winner of the Rising Stars challenge will make up the four teams in the NBA’s new mini-tournament. The league’s top first- and second-year players, along with a few G League players, competed in the Rising Stars challenge, which was a four-team event on Friday night.
Under the leadership of Spurs rookie Stephon Castle, who won MVP, Chris Mullin’s “Team C” won the Rising Stars competition.
There are eight players on each NBA All-Star team.
Two injured replacements are included in the total of 26 NBA All-Stars. 24 players were initially chosen, the same amount as in prior seasons.
The format of the competition is straightforward. The opening game will pit Kenny’s Young Stars against Chuck’s Global Stars. In the second semifinal, Shaq’s original team will play Rising Stars, who are coached by Candace Parker.
The championship game will bring the winners together. Each game is won by the first team to 40 points.
The total amount of prizes is $1.8 million. Every member of the winning team receives $125,000. The second-place team’s players receive $50,000.
The players on the semifinal losing teams receive $25,000. There were initially 12 players selected per conference, and 10 players were chosen as “starters” using the same voting procedure.
In the past, the Eastern Conference and Western Conference would often compete in a single 48-minute All-Star Game.
The league switched back to East vs. West in Indianapolis last season, but teams were chosen by the top vote-getters from 2018 to 2023.
The outcome, a 397-point contest, drew a lot of criticism.
The league is open to changing the format, according to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who has frequently bemoaned the caliber of play in recent All-Star Games. Silver alluded to something similar when he was in Mexico last November for a media appearance, stating that the league was considering doing away with the “traditional game format” this year.
“I think everyone was disappointed in what they saw last year,” Silver continued.
The players and the players association were also involved, in addition to the league. I believe that we all did what we believed we could, believing that somehow we would give it a collegiate try and witness a more competitive game, especially in Indiana, which is kind of the basketball heartland.”
The league, according to Silver, has confirmed a committee to discuss the matter with the NBPA and team representatives about doing “something new” to “excite the fans and also excite the players, so it’s something they’re enthusiastic about participating in.”
Leave a Reply