Doubtful Players Question NBA's Newly Proposed Single-Day All-Star Tournament
Four squads, three matches, one evening. That's the strategy for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco, confirmed after months of discussion surrounding the lack of competitiveness and - well, defense - in the 2024 event.
The NBA adopted a fresh one-night competition with three teams consisting of eight All-Stars chosen by former NBA players Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O'Neal from "Inside the NBA."
"I detest it. Absolutely detest it," Suns forward Kevin Durant stated Tuesday of the new arrangement. "It's dreadful. ... We should just revert to the East-West, simply play a game."
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Last year's All-Star Game was broadly ridiculed despite returning to the traditional East-West matchup from a "captain's draft," with the fan-vote leaders from each conference drafting two teams.
In 2025, the victor of the Rising Stars challenge competition between first- and second-year players will be the fourth team in the All-Star Game tournament.
Tournament games will be determined by the first team to reach 40 points.
Commissioner Adam Silver reiterated on opening night of the 2024-25 season that the NBA was devoted to creating a competitive atmosphere for the All-Star Game following an event record 397 points in the 2024 event in Indianapolis.
The prize pool of $1.8 million is divided based on the results of the tournament in 2025. Players on the tournament victor receive $125,000, with runners-up to receive $50,000 each. The two teams eliminated with losses in their initial game will be paid $25,000 per player.
Damian Lillard of the Bucks was voted All-Star Game MVP with 39 points in 2024 and launched multiple shots closer to halfcourt than the 3-point line.
He stated last month that the issue with the All-Star Game is an "effort problem."
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"The NBA has an effort problem with all-star games, so what do they do? They create a format where non-all stars get to play against all stars, and shortens the actual game into a tournament where they only have to score 65 points to win," Lillard said in a post to X on Nov. 21. "These guys are professionals. Let's put an end to this nonsense."
