The NBA celebrated its 50th annual All-Star weekend in San Francisco, and many viewers, players, commentators and NBA legends were thoroughly disappointed, again. The 2024 All-Star game in Indianapolis completely face-planted: The once-exciting NBA Dunk Contest turned into yet another mediocre showing, and the All-Star game finished with a mind-boggling score of 211-186. It was fairly obvious to fans that none of the players were taking the game seriously; no defense was being played and some players were simply lethargic on the court. When asked about this, Golden State Warriors superstar guard Steph Curry said, “We need to change. We need some new life, new juice in the game.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver decided to heed this advice and unveil a new format for this year’s game. What used to be one 48-minute match between two teams turned into a four-team tournament with three games to a target score of 40. The tournament ended in a 41-25 victory by Team Shaq’s OGs over Team Chuck’s Global Stars. Steph Curry was awarded All-Star game MVP, putting up 20 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in two games. Overall, there was undoubtedly more effort shown in this year’s All-Star game, and even multiple defensive plays, highlighted by blocks at the rim by Victor Wembanyama and Jaren Jackson Jr. The target scores at the end of the game seemed to make it more competitive, while maintaining the flashiness and exciting plays of past All-Star games. These included half-court shots, no-look threes, alley-oops and dimes. “I think it was solid tonight, I felt like guys were trying to play hard,” said Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant after the game.
So, if the competitive nature of the All-Star game was somewhat improved, why was there a consensus feeling of disappointment? In the three-hour window for Sunday’s All-Star Game, there were 42 minutes of actual basketball played, 80 minutes of advertisements and 88 minutes of extracurricular breaks.
Among these breaks was a shooting competition after the first game that involved YouTuber Mr. Beast and had Bucks guard Damian Lillard competing against a college student from the audience. Then, there was a retirement ceremony in the middle of the final game celebrating TNT’s 40-year relationship with the NBA, which is coming to an end after this season—a 25-minute break that none of the players seemed to know was coming. “I think the toughest part [was when] they stopped the game to do the presentation while we were kind of halfway through it,” Celtics star Jayson Tatum stated. “It was kind of tough to get back into the game after that.”
Another aspect of the new All-Star format that drew a lot of criticism was the inclusion of the winners of the Rising Stars challenge—a tournament featuring exclusively first- and second-year players. When asked to rate the new format on the TNT pregame show, Warriors player Draymond Green declared it a “Zero out of ten,” and stated that “It sucks.”
The 2026 All-Star game will be held in Los Angeles, California, and everyone will have one question in mind: What will happen to the All-Star game now? With NBA players, fans and executives all clearly divided, there is no clear answer. All we can do is hope that this year’s All-Star game was a step in the right direction towards restoring this historic event’s glory. With so many talented and exciting players in the modern NBA, I have confidence they will figure out a way to bring the excitement back to All-Star weekend.