Shams Charania, ESPN
The NBA is in serious discussions on a new 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 on Friday.
League officials discussed the new format Friday with the competition committee consisting of governors, team executives, players, coaches and union personnel, sources said.
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 of the tournament.
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 among 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 night this 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.