The NBA tried an innovative new format for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game, splitting up the 24 All-Stars into three teams while having the winners of the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday join the normal All-Stars for a four-team tournament on Sunday. The game had a target score of 40 points and featured eight-man rosters.
This format was panned by fans across the board, primarily because of the NBA overproducing the game with sponsor and influencer engagements. These engagements led to long breaks, which led to the playing stars heavily criticizing the format after the game, led by Trae Young.
Trae Young: “I didn’t like it at all. I don’t know the fan’s reactions to it. But I think there are too many breaks. It’s too long for the breaks. Guys are over here ready to play. I thought it was very competitive at the beginning but as the game kept going on, it was too long for the break for sure. It is too long, I didn’t know how long it was but it felt like 30 minutes. I don’t know about the target score. I am a traditional East-West guy. I think there are ways to add incentives to make guys compete hard. Take the best players from the East, the best players from the West, and you compete. You just have pride in protecting your side, so that’s a better way to go about it.”
Other stars also chimed in, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jaylen Brown objecting to the number of stoppages during the game, while Stephen Curry endorsed the changes and revealed he had input in them.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: “I guess it wasn’t ideal. I would rather play with no breaks, but I had fun either way. I feel like it was a little bit more towards the competitive side tonight, a step in the right direction. It’s up to the guys who analyze to figure out what’s next and how to keep making it more and more interesting, and hopefully, we get there one day. But yeah, I’m glad it’s not my job to figure that stuff out.”
Jaylen Brown: “I would say that’s not ideal to stop like that if you want guys to play and be physical and play harder. I think all the guys were still out there having fun. All the OG’s, team old knees and old backs, we came out on top so I don’t think anybody else should have had any excuses. But, it’s definitely not ideal.”
Stephen Curry: “ It’s a celebration of many great things happening in basketball. Playing with these guys for a long time… It’s obviously our responsibility and duty to go out and put on a good show… I think it has been a good step in the right direction, we needed to change, needed some new life, new juice in the game… I had input with Adam Silver on this format.”
Draymond Green didn’t make the All-Star game but went viral before the game for slamming this decision by the NBA, primarily the inclusion of the Rising Stars in the game as devaluing All-Star Sunday.
Draymond Green: “I had to work so hard to play on Sunday night… And because ratings are down, we’re bringing in Rising Stars? These guys get to touch the All-Star floor?”
It’s hard to judge the contest on its merits when the production of it was completely mismanaged. The tournament did lead to more competitive basketball, so the NBA might continue with this by making slight adjustments.
Instead of having such long breaks while the players are playing, the NBA can make their sponsored integrations in between games instead of during them. To add high-level competitiveness, the final team could be a fan-voted selection of All-Star snubs who would come into the game with a lot of energy to prove they deserved a selection in the first place.
The best solution would be for the NBA to find a way to incentivize players within the classic East-West All-Star matchup. Otherwise, this tournament might be a decent compromise but one that feels like it would only boost the game’s competitiveness in the short term. These ideas were also suggested by Damian Lillard.
A grand prize might not be enough for All-Stars on big contracts, but the NBA will likely keep tinkering with their formats after this year’s issues.
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