The NBA is back with more All-Star game gimmicks, proving they didn’t learn from previous All-Star games. The NBA’s new four-team tournament-style structure for the 2025 All-Star Game would include two semifinal games of up to 40 points each, with the victors progressing to the final match of up to 25 points. The first-of-its-kind tournament is set to be a fast-paced battle similar to pickup games, with the winner progressing to the championship round via single-elimination play.
This isn’t the first change to the All-Star Game format in recent years. The biggest issue lately has been the lack of effort, especially on defense, which has brought about all these gimmicky changes. The biggest change came during the 2018 All-Star Game when they changed the format from East vs. West to the All-Star draft. Two years later, in 2020, they started the Elam ending, which is pretty much playing to a targeted score. The games were slightly more competitive but still were one-sided a majority of the time, with the All-Star team captained by LeBron James winning every matchup until the 2023 NBA All-Star Game. This format ran until last year, when the NBA decided to revert to East vs. West for the first time in seven seasons.
Last year’s All-Star Game was the final straw. The product was terrible, and the fans and media let NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the entire league know that something had to be done, which is why they are switching to this pickup game style. The 2025 NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco will feature four squads competing in a pickup-style tournament; three will consist of eight players who earn All-Star honors, while the final will feature the squad that wins the Rising Stars game. In all honesty, we are tired of the gimmicks, and I can almost guarantee this style won’t last longer than a season or two. The real issue here is that the NBA has an effort problem, and these play style gimmicks won’t fix it.
It’s really a shame what the NBA product has become, and there’s no one to blame except the players. This generation of NBA players, which I include from 2012 to now, have become spoiled and entitled. It used to be an honor to play in the All-Star Game, and the players used to treat it that way. There’s a reason the All-Star Game MVP is named after Kobe Bryant, because he never cheated it. I remember back in the 2012 All-Star Game, Dwyane Wade broke Bryant’s nose, and he still finished the game. Today’s players aren’t doing that. They don’t even have the passion to do that. This generation of NBA players doesn’t even love basketball anymore; they just love being celebrities. So if the NBA wants to fix their biggest problem, which will only grow when LeBron, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry retire, they will have to meet the NBA players where they are.
Money talks, and the NBA has boatloads of it, so they need to stop being cheap. Right now, each member of the winning All-Star team would take home $100,000. That is a lot of money, but that is chump change to even the poorest NBA player. Silver needs to up that number to at least $2 million for each player on the winning team. They should take it a step further and eliminate profits for the losing team altogether. Imagine how hard the young players who make the All-Star team will play knowing they get millions if they win. Imagine how hard the old heads will play knowing they are not trying to get embarrassed and lose their status in the league to the young players. Basketball has become an ego thing, so feed into it. Because it’s very obvious the fans and the love for the game won’t shift the needle.
The NBA needs to quit the gimmicks before the NBA becomes a gimmick, and it’s speeding toward that faster than ever.
