-
Shams Charania, ESPN
The NBA’s new four-team tournament-style format for the 2025 All-Star Game is expected to have two semifinal games played up to 40 points, with the winners advancing to the final match up to 25 points, sources told ESPN.
The first-of-its-kind event is expected to serve as a quick-burst competition that resembles pickup games where the winner moves to the championship round in single-elimination play.
Sources told ESPN last week that the NBA was in serious discussions to have three All-Star teams of eight players each and the winner of the Rising Stars game take part in an All-Star Game tournament.
The four teams would face each other in matchups — for instance, Team 1 versus Team 3 and Team 2 versus Team 4 — and the winners move on to the final round.
League officials discussed the new format on Friday with the competition committee consisting of governors, team executives, players, coaches and union personnel, sources said.
NBA team executives, coaches and players have discussed new All-Star Game concepts with league officials over the past six months, including extensive conversations at the summer league in Las Vegas in July. There have been discussions for a fresh and creative path forward for the All-Star Game, and this quick-burst, four-team tourney featuring the game’s greatest players gained momentum among all parties, according to sources.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, the face of the host 2025 All-Star city in the Bay Area, has joined several All-Stars with input in this year’s event, sources said.
Curry and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty participated in the first NBA versus WNBA 3-point challenge at All-Star Saturday last February in Indianapolis. Curry and Ionescu are in strong conversations to return in a variation of the shootout, which could include other NBA and WNBA players such as Klay Thompson of the Dallas Mavericks and Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever, sources said.
After the East defeated the West 211-186 in the highest-scoring All-Star Game in league history in February, NBA commissioner Adam Silver publicly and privately admitted the competition level had slipped drastically and there might not be a fix. The league and the National Basketball Players Association, however, maintained dialogue in recent months on how to add uniqueness to the 2025 event.
“We’re looking at other formats,” Silver said 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 league was looking at making the All-Star Game “not a traditional game format.”
The All-Star Game is scheduled for Feb. 16 at San Francisco’s Chase Center.