NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants a more competitive All-Star Game.
His broadcast partners domestically and globally want a more competitive game.
Fans – and their seething, disgusted, and worse, apathetic emails dropped into my inbox – want the same.
I, too, prefer a more competitive All-Star Game.
Yet, I am skeptical that there is a long-term solution to making it a better product for the league, its partners and fans.
That doesn’t mean the league should stop searching for improvements. Changes to the All-Star Game, such as team captains picking rosters regardless of conference and using a targeted score similar to the Elam Ending ‒ have provided a modicum of satisfactory games: a 148-145 finish in 2018, a 157-155 affair in 2020 and a 163-160 result in 2022.
But last year’s 211-186 outcome – the first 200-point game in All-Star history – bothered Silver. His disappointment was palpable when he delivered the All-Star trophy to the winning team, and he later called the game a “sore point.”
“There’s no doubt that the players were disappointed as well in last year’s All-Star Game,” Silver told reporters in Mexico City earlier this season. “We all want to do a better job providing competition and entertainment for our fans.”
So the league altered the format once again for the 2025 game Sunday in San Francisco. The 24 All-Stars will be divided into three teams of eight, and the Rising Stars championship team will comprise another squad in a four-team mini-tournament. The winners of the semifinals will play in the final. The first team to hit 40 points is the winner of each game.
A new format has the possibility of injecting competitiveness into the event. The NBA maintains that anytime you put competitive athletes in a competitive situation, they will show up – and that’s what the league has counted on for the in-season NBA Cup.
Plus, the shorter games and reduced scores eliminate the eye sore of a game in the upper 100s or low 200s in points.
I am perplexed by the addition of comedian and actor Kevin Hart’s just-announced role as on-court emcee during Sunday’s game. He will “bring his signature humor and energy to the reimagined All-Star Game format, providing commentary from the court as play unfolds,” according to the league.
The league wants players to take the game more seriously, but a funnyman will have jokes during the game.
“Hey LeBron, get back on defense, what do you think this is a regular-season game?”
“Hey Shai, you want that regular-season MVP? Play harder!”
“Jokic, let some American-born players win MVP!”
Perhaps stakeholders get what they want out of the game this season.
If it happens, can it last? Silver said a year ago, “We’re not necessarily looking for players to go out there as if it’s the Finals, but we need players to play defense. We need them to care about this game.”
All-Star contests – not just in the NBA – have evolved over the years. The NFL’s Pro Bowl is now a skills competition and flag football game. MLB for a brief time used the All-Star Game winner to determine which league had home-field advantage, but that’s no longer the case. The NHL plays a four-team 3-on-3 tournament.
These aren’t the All-Star Games of the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s or even ’90s. It’s a different time with a different player. That doesn’t mean the NBA should stop trying and resign itself to a dunk show or 3-pointers from the logo on every possession.
The NBA is trying, and its basketball operations staff gets polite applause for the new concept. The trick moving forward is reinventing the All-Star format every year to maintain players’ competitive interest. In 2026, the format can’t be the same as it is this season. Maybe similar. But not the same.
Follow NBA columnist Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt
