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Draymond Green Rips Rising Stars Being Included in All-Star Game

Ryan Phillips

Draymond Green on-air with TNT prior to the 2025 NBA All-Star game.
Draymond Green on-air with TNT prior to the 2025 NBA All-Star game. / Via TN
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Draymond Green is not a fan of the NBA's new All-Star game format.

On Sunday, before the 2025 NBA All-Star game, Green was on set with TNT's pregame show and tore into the fact that the new format of the game included a Rising Stars team of young players who had not been picked as actual All-Stars. The team will be coached by WNBA legend Candace Parker.

"Candace goes, 'I'm coaching some team' and that's right, some team that no one wants to see," Green said. "I had to work so hard to play on Sunday night of All-Star weekend. And because ratings are down, because the game is bad, we're bringing in rising stars? That's not a fix."

He wasn't done yet.

"In America, the president has Air Force One, right?" Green said. "They have several of those planes. It's only Air Force One if the president is on it. That's the All-Star floor. You have the court, you have the events, it's a nice looking court. When All-Stars are on the court, now it's the All-Star court."

He finished up aiming squarely at the Rising Stars team.

"Those guys did not make the All-Star team," Green said. "To be playing in the All-Star game and you did not make the All-Star team is absurd."

The NBA has tried a new format this year in an attempt to spice things up. But it's likely a lot of people agree with Green.

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Ryan Phillips
RYAN PHILLIPS

Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.

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