The NBA’s new four-team tournament-style format for the 2025 All-Star Game is expected to have two semifinal games played to 40 points, with the winners advancing to the final game to 25 points, sources told ESPN.
The first-of-its-kind event is expected to function as a quick-fire contest that resembles pickup games where the winner moves to the championship round in a single-elimination game.
Sources told ESPN last week that the NBA was in serious discussions to have three All-Star teams of eight players each and the winner of the Rising Stars game participate in an All-Star Game tournament.
The four teams would face each other in matchups — for example, Team 1 vs. Team 3 and Team 2 vs. Team 4 — and the winners move on to the final round.
League officials discussed the new format on Friday with the competition committee made up of governors, team executives, players, coaches and union staff, sources said.
NBA team executives, coaches and players have discussed new All-Star Game concepts with league officials over the past six months, including extensive conversations at the summer league in Las Vegas in July. There have been discussions for a fresh and creative way forward for the All-Star Game, and this fast-paced, four-team tournament featuring the game’s biggest players has gained momentum among all parties, according to sources.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, the face of the host 2025 All-Star city in the Bay Area, joined several All-Stars with input into this year’s event, sources said.
Curry and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty participated in the first NBA vs. WNBA 3-point challenge at All-Star Saturday last February in Indianapolis. Curry and Ionescu are in strong talks to return in a variation of the shootout that could include other NBA and WNBA players such as Klay Thompson of the Dallas Mavericks and Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever, sources said.
After the East defeated the West 211-186 in the highest-scoring All-Star Game in league history in February, NBA commissioner Adam Silver publicly and privately admitted that the level of competition has slipped dramatically and there may not be a solution. The league and the National Basketball Players Association, however, have maintained a dialogue in recent months about how to add uniqueness to the 2025 event.
“We’re looking at other formats,” Silver said earlier this month. “I think there’s no doubt that the players were also disappointed in last year’s All-Star Game. We all want to do a better job of providing competition and entertainment for our fans.”
Silver added that the league was looking at making the All-Star Game “not a traditional game format.”
The All-Star Game is scheduled for February 16 at San Francisco’s Chase Center.
