Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard is the reigning NBA All-Star Game MVP, after scoring 39 points last February in the highest-scoring game in NBA history.
East 211, West 186. It set a new record but did not please the league.
As a result, the NBA is changing the format of the midseason event once again. The league has announced its finalized changes, turning the All-Star Game into a one-night tournament on the Sunday night of All-Star weekend.
This new format will follow a similar style to the Rising Stars Challenge for rookies and second-year players used in recent years.
The NBA hopes this new approach will encourage players to compete a bit more, which will make the event more interesting and attract more viewers. Ratings have dropped in recent years, with fans not enjoying the constant lobs, 3-pointers, dunks, and lack of defense.
“I understand what’s being attempted,” Lillard said. “You want to create some type of competitiveness in that game on Sunday. You want to try to mix it up to try to find a way to make it more entertaining. We’ll see.”
The new format is similar to the one used for the Rising Stars games since 2022. For Rising Stars, the NBA gathers the best rookies and second-year players for All-Star weekend and splits them into four teams.
There are two semifinal games — the first team to 50 points won in Year 1, and the first team to 40 points has been the winner of the semifinals in 2023 and 2024. The two semifinal winners meet in a championship game that same night, and the first team to 25 points wins.
The All-Star format this year will have 24 players — 10 starters and 14 reserves, although that won’t be how things work on game night. The 24 players will be drafted into three teams of eight, and the Rising Stars team will remain as the fourth team in the All-Star tournament. There will be two semifinal games, each going to 40 points, followed by a final to 40 points.
“If I get a chance to go, obviously it’s a blessing,” Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I support whatever they do because it’s an honor to be there.”
Improving the All-Star Game has been a goal for Commissioner Adam Silver and the league for some time. No one expects the intensity of a playoff game, but the league wants to see more competition. The NBA has tried other approaches, like a target-score ending, captains picking teams, and now, this new tournament format.
“We’re looking at other formats,” Silver said on Nov. 2, hinting that changes were coming. “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.”
This year’s All-Star weekend will take place from February 14-16 in San Francisco.
The Rising Stars event will be the main attraction on Friday night, followed by All-Star Saturday, which will feature the dunk contest, the 3-point contest, the skills competition, and possibly another shootout event between NBA and WNBA stars, featuring Stephen Curry, Sabrina Ionescu, Klay Thompson, and Caitlin Clark.
On Sunday, the All-Star Game — or in this case, the tournament — will take place. There will definitely not be 397 points scored this year.
“I’m definitely more a fan of the originality,” Lillard said on Monday, the eve of the NBA Cup final, where his Bucks will face the Thunder in Las Vegas. “I think being able to play on Sunday is a special thing. The top players get to do it. Not everybody has that experience.
“One side of me is like, why? Why change it? But I think just like this NBA Cup, there’s some incentive in there for people to get after it earlier in the season and try to get something done,” Lillard added. “So, I think that’s a possible route for that, as well. We’ll see. I know they switched it up a little bit this year, and we’ll see how it goes.”
