2025 NBA All-Star Game format: Players discuss how tournament-style event could ‘heighten the competition’

The NBA All-Star Game has been trending in the wrong direction for a few years now, but it reached a tipping point last season when the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference, 211-186, in a game that broke numerous scoring records. 

In response to wide-ranging criticism, the NBA decided to change things up this year. Instead of a traditional All-Star Game, Sunday night’s festivities have been turned into a mini tournament that will feature four teams. The All-Star player pool was drafted into three teams — Kenny’s Young Guns, Chuck’s Global Stars and Shaq’s OGs — and they will be joined by the winner of Rising Stars, Team C. 

Game 1 of the single-elimination event will feature Kenny’s Young Stars vs. Chuck’s Global Stars, while Game 2 will pit Shaq’s OGs against Team C. The winners of those two games will square off in the championship later in the evening. In all three games, the winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 40 points.

2025 NBA All-Star Game format explained: League debuting new tournament-style competition on Sunday

James Herbert

There will be a $1.8 million prize pool at stake, with each player on the winning team receiving $125,000. 

Will the new format result in a more competitive evening? The NBA certainly hopes so, but the players themselves aren’t so sure. During All-Star media day on Saturday, stars from around the league shared their thoughts on the new set-up. Here’s what they had to say:

“Definitely, yeah, [my intention is to go all out],” Wembanyama said. “That’s the goal. The goal is not to chill, for sure.

“I guess maybe it’s not something I learned; I guess it’s maybe innate. But it was definitely encouraged in our family’s culture around sport, of course. I don’t know. I just feel lucky to be — that I have that will to stay true to myself.”

“I mean, I think that’s probably why they put this type of format in, to kind of heighten that sense of pride and not wanting to be on the wrong end of that,” Lillard said. 

“I mean, we’ll see. I think one thing about a team full of young players is they’re going to come out there and they’re going to play with some energy. They’re going to play fast. I think that’ll probably heighten the competition. So we’ll see.”

“I’m one guy out there,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I would love to play — if you’re asking where my stance is, I would love to play like a pickup game, like we do in the summertime for sure. But I’m one guy out there, and I’m not about to be the only guy diving on loose balls.”

“We’ll see. We’ll see,” Durant said. “It’s different from what we’re used to, but it’s basketball at the end of the day. I think guys will go out there and try to play and impress the fans and stay healthy and give a good show.”

“I don’t really know too much about it,” Edwards said. 

“I’ll just pick up full court and go from there,” Jackson said. “A lot of talk about it. I’m sure that’s, like, the hottest topic just because of the past couple years. I’m sure dudes aren’t trying to lose 40-0, so I’ll just pick up full court.”

“Maybe [it will improve the competitivness],” Jokic said. “We will see. I think it’s definitely something that we’ve worked to change and it’s worth a try. We’ll see how the players will react and how it’s going to be.”