‘I hate it’: NBA players skeptical of new one-day All-Star Game tournament | NBA

On By Littum

Four teams, three games, one night. That’s the plan for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco, confirmed after months of discussion surrounding the lack of competitiveness and — yes, defense — in the 2024 event.

The NBA has adopted a new three-team, one-night tournament featuring eight All-Stars selected by former NBA players Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal of Inside NBA.

“I hate it. Absolutely hate it,” Suns forward Kevin Durant said Tuesday of the new format. “It’s terrible. … We just had to go back to East-West, just play a game.”

Last year’s All-Star game was widely ridiculed despite returning to the traditional East-West matchup from a “captain’s draft” in which the fan poll leaders from each conference drafted two teams.

In 2025, the winner of the Rising Stars challenge competition between first- and second-year players will be the fourth team in the All-Star Game tournament.

Tournament matches are decided by the first team to reach 40 points.

Commissioner Adam Silver reiterated on opening night of the 2024–25 season that the NBA was committed to creating a competitive atmosphere for the All-Star Game on the heels of an event-record 397 points in the 2024 event in Indianapolis.

The prize pool of $1.8 million. is split based on the results of the tournament in 2025. Players on the tournament winner will receive $125,000, while runners-up will receive $50,000 each. The two teams that were eliminated with losses in their first match will be paid $25,000 each. player.

Damian Lillard of the Bucks was named All-Star Game MVP with 39 points in 2024 and launched more shots closer to half court than the three-point line.

He said last month that the problem with the All-Star Game is an “effort problem.”

“The NBA has an effort problem with all-star games, so what do they do? They build a format where non-all-stars get to play all-stars and shorten the game itself to 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 stop this BS.”