The NBA has been in serious talks for a tournament-style format for the 2025 All-Star Game, consisting of three All-Star teams of eight players each and the winner of the Rising Stars game, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania. The officials discussed the new format Friday with the competition committee consisting of governors, team executives, players, coaches, and union personnel, sources told ESPN. Here’s what you need to know about the league’s serious talks.
NBA’s Talks
NBA team executives, coaches, and players have been having serious talks about new All-Star Game concepts with the NBA officials over the past six months. According to ESPN, the officials last discussed the new format on Friday, November 15, with the competition committee, consisting of governors, team executives, players, coaches, and union personnel.
The All-Star Game concept could come with a new-look appearance: The four teams would compete against each other in matchups. For example, Team 1 versus Team 3 and Team 2 versus Team 4. The two matchups’ winners would advance to the tournament’s final round for the win. The tournament’s style may not be everybody’s preference, but one may want to take a closer look at it — and give it a chance.
Players Chime In
Aside from team executives and coaches, the NBA players have chimed into the discussions surrounding new All-Star Game concepts. For example, Golden State Warriors Point Guard Stephen Curry. Curry, 36, will be the face of the 2025 NBA All-Star at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on Sunday, February 16, 2025. Curry has been averaging 22.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game and shooting 47.9% from the field this season.
Curry is up in age, but his current one-year, $62.6 million contract extension has been looking good, if not great, to start the 2024-25 NBA season. Curry’s contract extension was the most the Warriors could offer him by league rules. The 36-year-old could retire at the end of 2024-25, and if retirement is in the works, the total earnings would be about $532 million after a lengthy 16-year career in the NBA.
2025 NBA All-Star Game
The 2025 NBA All-Star Game will be played at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on February 16, 2025. Curry is expected to be the biggest name among the Golden State Warriors and one of the biggest names among NBA players in general. Previously, Curry and New York Liberty Point Guard Sabrina Ionescu, who happens to be a Walnut Creek, California, native, participated in the first NBA vs. WNBA three-point challenge at the 2024 All-Star Saturday in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Curry and Ionescu, 26, are reportedly in strong talks to return in a similar shootout, which might include the Dallas Mavericks’ Klay Thompson and Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, next year. After the East defeated the West 211-186 in the highest-scoring All-Star Game in league history, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver publicly and privately admitted the competition level had slipped drastically and there might not be a fix.
However, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) reportedly maintained dialogue in recent months on how to add some uniqueness to the upcoming 2025 All-Star Game. Silver told ESPN, “We’re looking at other formats,” earlier this month. “I think there’s no doubt that the players were disappointed as well in last year’s All-Star Game. We all want to do a better job providing competition and entertainment for our fans.” Silver added that the NBA was looking at making the All-Star Game “not a traditional game format.”
Final Thoughts
If the league decides to go through with these changes, it would be a welcome change for the fans. The All-Star Game had gotten stale in recent years and this format would breathe life into the once great event. The league has a few months left until the game takes place in February to make a final decision on the format for 2025.
