The NBA unveiled its new All-Star Game format on Tuesday. The 2025 game is scheduled for February 16th in San Francisco.
The NBA and NBPA announced today a new format for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game in the San Francisco Bay Area.
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 17, 2024
In addition, NBA All-Star Voting presented by AT&T will tip off on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 10 a.m. ET.
Full details ➡️ https://t.co/KntyklRIe7 pic.twitter.com/3jIbW1tZWZ
The NBA All-Star Game has become less competitive in recent years. This season, to produce a more competitive game, a mini-tournament with four teams in a three-game event has been introduced.
Two teams of eight players will play in one semifinal game, and the other two teams of eight players will play in a different semifinal game, with the winners of each reaching the finals. The first team to reach 40 points in each game is the winner and will move on. The first three teams will have eight different All-Stars, while the fourth team will be the players from the championship game of the Rising Stars game.
Honorary general managers Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O'Neal, and Candance Parker will draft each team of All-Stars, which is a cool addition. The draft will take place on February 6th and be broadcast on TNT.
The #NBAAllStar Game has a new tournament-style format 👀
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) December 17, 2024
Shaq, Chuck, Kenny, and Candace Parker will serve as honorary team GMs 🧵 pic.twitter.com/wD8cXlnaKt
The coaching for this All-Star Game is also slightly different as the coaching staff with the best records in their respective conferences through February 2nd are getting the bid. The head coach from the East and the head coach from the West will each coach their own NBA All-Star team, but assistant coaches from the East and West teams will coach the other two teams. One assistant coach will coach the remaining NBA All-Star team, and the other assistant coach will coach the Rising Star team.
This is not the first time the NBA has altered the All-Star Game, with the first change coming in 2018 when the league first switched from conference teams to drafting for teams with the top vote-getters in each conference drafting the teams. The next switch came in 2020 when there was a target score in the fourth quarter, and the quarter was untimed. This switch came, so the game ended on a shot and has been used to honor Kobe Bryant. But after last year's score of 211-186, the highest-scoring game in the game's history, Commissioner Adam Silver was not thrilled with the game.
Players will also compete for prize money during this break as each player on the winning team will win $125,000, each player on the second place team will receive $50,000, and the third and fourth place teams will receive $25,000. Adding another twist to a game that will look completely different this season. It will be interesting to see how these games are played and received by both fans and players alike. Fans will be eager to see if these changes will produce a more competitive match or if it will be the same old NBA All-Star game with little to no defense.
