New NBA All-Star Format Announced

[bisme37]

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NBA AND NBPA ANNOUNCE NEW FORMAT FOR 2025 NBA ALL-STAR GAME

The NBA and National Basketball Players Association just announced a new, reimagined format for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco (Feb. 16, 8 ET on TNT).

For the first time, the NBA All-Star Game will feature a mini-tournament with four teams and three games – composed of three teams made up of NBA All-Star selections, plus the Castrol Rising Stars champion.

Two teams will meet in one semifinal, with two more squaring off in the second semi. The winning teams will face each other in the championship. For each game, the winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 40 points.

Each team will have eight players, and will be named for a TNT NBA analyst. Honorary team GMs Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith will draft from the 24 NBA All-Star selections on Feb. 6, while Candace Parker will serve as honorary GM of the winning team from Castrol Rising Stars (Feb. 14).

More info: https://www.nba.com/news/2025-nba-all-star-game-new-format?lid=mxlgjdmy7bit

All-star voting begins Dec 19:

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[zimpy27]

Needs more bells and whistles

[JJ_PR]

I mean they had to do something after last year's abomination of an event.

I wonder how the players during the actual game would react if one random all-star starts giving effort. I think it would be contagious.

[Wolfgang630]

So one all star team gets a free ride to the finals because they get to play the kids group? How is this fair.

KD said it right. This is nonsense. Keep it east vs west.

[phanman]

I love it.

- An ELAM ending of 40pts create a sense of urgency on both sides of the floor. Even if the game don't mean much, no NBA player wants to lose and when the game to crunch time, I think you'll see some defensive effort. Especially if it means moving on to the championship game/to the win.

- With rosters now only having 8 guys, the end of bench All-Stars will have actually have an opportunity to play in the games and make an impact

- Don't sleep on the potential of the Castrol Rising Stars team which should be made up primarily of the great draft class we had last season headlined by Wemby, Miller, Thompson twins, Lively etc. Out of the 4 teams, I think they'll play with the most urgency to prove they belong.

The only thing I don't like is the prize pool. 1.8m total and 125k to the winning team is nothing to get really excited about with how much these guys are getting paid.

[Jadoogar]

Can't hurt but i also don't care. The allstar game is the least interesting part of the weekend.

[Sofia]

Needs more bells and whistles

I hope the courts are so brightly colored my eyes hurt

[dhsilv2]

I mean...for the people who go there cool. Do they still show this stuff on TV? I'll assume not.

[dhsilv2]

Needs more bells and whistles

I hope the courts are so brightly colored my eyes hurt

Maybe the ball can be neon yellow and light up when they dribble. And the floor can flash ads for beer, condoms, and prescription drugs.

[The-Power]

So one all star team gets a free ride to the finals because they get to play the kids group? How is this fair.

The ‘kids group’ (which is still quite talented fwiw) might actually care enough to put in some effort. In that case, the All-Star group will have to at least put in some effort as well – or risk elimination and the subsequent ridicule. Win-win.

Personally, I don't care about AS weekend. So whatever the NBA decides to do is fine by me. That being said, I understand why they feel the need to change things up. And who knows, perhaps they will eventually hit on something.

[Swish1906]

They are never going to solve the problem because the problem is that the player won’t care about any game played. They just want to be named allstar and have some wannabe red carpet stuff.

[jasonxxx102]

Nothing they do will make me care about the all-star game until the players start caring

[Driguez]

This is a terrible idea. If you want players to care make it meaningful or pay them, don’t make them play preschool games.

[SkyBill40]

I'm with Kevin Durant: This stuff is terrible. We need to go back to East vs West.

[TheHartBreakKid]

The gimmick might get salvage some viewer numbers this year and maybe the next, but it won't fix anything regarding how unwatchable this game is for actual basketball fans, and the event is likely to be poorly reviewed and used as another example of what is wrong with the NBA these days (rightfully so).

[dohboy_24]

Sounds good except the games should be played until the first team scores exactly 21 points with rules the same as the streetball game.

[djsunyc]

I mean they had to do something after last year's abomination of an event.

I wonder how the players during the actual game would react if one random all-star starts giving effort. I think it would be contagious.

the best all star game in recent history was the elam ending with kyle lowry was out there taking charges. i agree that if 1 or 2 guys take it seriously, it will catch on.

that's why i always thought a 1 on 1 comp would work bc these guys have egos. but that would also never get approved bc some guys would take PR hits if they dont perform well and could cost them sponsorship money.

[Tatumfor2]

I'm worried the rising stars will injure someone going for the bonus cash.

[zimpy27]

Needs more bells and whistles

I hope the courts are so brightly colored my eyes hurt

I hope the celebrities are so plentiful that my eyes hurt

[NyKnicks1714]

I see no reason to hate on a 4-team format in general. Players aren't going to care about the All-star game no matter what, so might as well try something new. But who thought it was a good idea to have the Rising Stars winners be one of the teams? 8 All-stars vs 8 non-All-stars. How compelling.

Playing to a target score is dumb too.

The problem is this idea won't make the games more competitive nor will it draw viewers. I'm all for gimmicks for the ASG but these aren't accomplishing anything.