NBA All-Star 2025: New format generates controversy. What follows?
There are opinions found among the players regarding the new NBA All-Star Game format; Some liked, others see areas of improvement.
San Francisco – after the NBA stars game Last year, it was a collective disaster in Indianapolis, the NBA met with its players-including one of its flag bearers, Stephen Curry-to determine what I could do to improve the emblematic spectacle of mid-season of the League.
The result was a renewed format (in whose creation Curry participated) that converted a 48 -minute match between two teams into three shorter games among four teamswhich culminated with the MVP All-Star Curry and the Team Shaq defeating Team Chuck 41-25 in the championship.
That is why it was appropriate that, in a weekend that ended up being both a celebration of Curry’s legendary career with the Golden State Warriors and anything else, outside Curry who was asked if the format he helped create had worked And how, exactly, this event should be.
“We needed a change,” Curry said, referring to last year’s game in which almost 400 points were scored in total. “We needed some new life, new energy, something unexpected. … the way people see basketball is different. It will not be as before, but it can remain fun for everyone. I had fun. Our team had fun. That is all that matters. “
Curry had a lot of fun when he scored a shot from the middle court during the final of Sunday night, and then immediately went to the other end of the court to find the rapper and companion icon of the Bay area, Mistah Fab, to celebrate .
In general, there were less completely lethargic play moments on the court than in previous editions and even multiple notable defensive plays, including blocks in the ring by Jaren Jackson Jr. and Victor Wembanyama.
But at the end of the night, in what has become a tradition of how the NBA weekend has developed in recent years, there were far from a consensus about how the night was held and where Things should go from now on.
“I think we should focus on other things other than the game of stars,” said the Denver Nuggets pivot, Nikola Jokic. “I think it will always be so, so we should accept it.”
All the discussion Around the game of stars during the last seasons could be summarized in a brief interaction that the current most valuable player in the League had with journalists on Saturday during their availability for the media.
When Jokic asked about Charles Barkley’s decision to choose it first as part of the Draft “Inside The NBA” of TNT for the three campuses of eight men in the game of the stars earlier this month, Jokic smiled and said: “I think I am not made for this game, for this type of game. “
Minutes later Jokic asked what he really wanted to say.
“I think that is not a question for me, my friend,” he said, and another smile was drawn on his face while talking. “If you want my opinion, I can’t give it to you because I think it’s not going to be pleasant.”
If Jokic, three times MVP with an average triple-double with a percentage of field shots of about 60% and triple 45%, is not suitable for the game of stars, then who is it?
That is precisely what the NBA set out to solve when moving to this three -game minitorne, in which each game is played with the aim of scoring 40 points.
Sunday’s games were relatively competitive, at least more than in recent seasons, since the last truly competitive: the 2020 stars game in Chicago, which took place a few weeks after the death of Kobe Bryant and played with an advantage with an advantage that would have proud to the member of the Hall of Fame.
And although on tonight there was nothing similar to that, the consensus was that the event had improved.
“I think it was a good step in the right direction to revitalize the game in some way,” said Curry, “and then retake it again next year.”
“I think we are starting to see the weekend All-Star and the competitive nature in the game is beginning to appear again,” said Kevin Durant. “I think it was a solid night … I felt that the boys were trying to play hard.”
At the same time, much basketball was not played. On Sunday night there were several prolonged breaks in the action. Among them, a shooting competition after the first game in which the All-Star escort of the Milwaukee Bucks, Damian Lillard participated. And then there was the ceremony of celebration of the TNT 40 years with the NBA that is coming to an end after this season, a 20 -minute break in the game that none of the players seemed to know what was going to happen.
“I think the most difficult part was when they stopped the game to make the presentation when we were practically mid -game,” said the Celtics star, Jayson Tatum. “It was a bit difficult to play again after that.”
The inclusion of the winners of Rising Stars Challenge (a tournament that takes place on Friday night with first and second year players) as part of the game of the stars on Sunday night generated its own round of criticism. The Warriors Draymond Green player, who participated in the transmission of the event by TNT, declared that the new format was a “zero” on a scale of 1 to 10 and that “stinks.”
For Team Chuck, which beat Team Kenny to open the night, there was more than an hour between games.
“It was a bit hard,” said Donovan Mitchell about how the night took place. “I think at first you have energy, adrenaline, you try and then feel for 30-45 minutes. It was hard, to be honest. It is a job in elaboration.”
Now that this Weekend of the stars is over, and the game will take place at the new stadium of the clippers in Inglewood, California, next year, the question in everyone’s mind: what will happen to the game of the stars now?
As usual, there were many possible answers. Curry was not the only one who praised the new format; The Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson, who trained Curry in the game, also said he worked.
“I liked it,” Atkinson said. “It’s much better. It wasn’t a tray exercise.”
Evan Mobley, the Athinson’s emerging big star, also liked it.
“The truth is that it was very fun,” Mobley said. “I think it was a bit more competitive. I think that if the game had been a bit more disputed, it would probably have been even more competitive, but it was a different game. But I think, if it continues, I think it will be something good for the league “
Others did not agree.
Both Tyler Herro and Darius Garland, All-Stars for the first and second time, respectively, said they thought the game had ended almost before starting and would prefer to return to the traditional this-west format.
“But who am I to say it?” Garland told AM850 laughing. “I am all-star twice, so I have no voice or vote in that.”
However, in a thing practically all agreed: when NBC took the post next year as part of the new television format, there will have to be much less interruptions in the action.
“I feel that fans want to see us play more,” said Young, “instead of just some little shows between breaks.”
Another topic that emerged repeatedly over the weekend was the idea of having a “Team USA vs. rest of the world” format. While the sources said there was no direct NBA directive on how Barkley and his analysts of TNT Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith would select the teams, ideas were discussed on how to divide the stars. The fact that one of the teams, Chuck’s Global Stars, included seven international players was emblematic of ESO.
A change to such a format could generate more problems. The game of the stars has only 24 players, which generates many discussions about which stars are being belittled and excluded from competition. To have 12 international players and 12 Americans would only exacerbate those problems and leave out even more deserving candidates.
But that did not prevent some, including Wembanyama and Giannis Antetokounmpo, to support the idea.
“I would love,” said Antetokounmpo before the game, in which he did not play due to a calf injury. “I think it would be the most interesting and exciting format. I would love it. Without a doubt, I would be proud of it.”
“In my opinion, it’s more intentional,” Wembanyama said Saturday. “There is more pride in it. There is more at stake.”
Looking ahead, NBA’s hopes of increasing pride and importance of this event will depend on Wembanyama and its 4 -inch figure. With LeBron James out of the game due to discomfort in the foot and ankle, which ended his streak of 20 consecutive games as a starter in the game of the stars, Wembanyama’s own streak began in the game of the stars.
And after declaring that he would play the game with a purpose, he came out and did exactly that, including a sequence in the first game in which he made a dump in the post, a blockade and then started a counterattack that ended in another overturned, this time this time of Alperen Sengun.
“He took it seriously,” Curry said. “I was playing hard. I was showing its set of unique skills in all aspects.”
“You make what you want and each one has a option to do that.”
