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NBA's New All-Star Game Tournament Format Draws Terrible Reviews

The 2025 All-Star Game, featuring a four-team tournament for the first time, was a rough watch.

Dan Lyons

Kevin Hart receives a trophy during the 2025 NBA All Star Game at Chase Center.
Kevin Hart receives a trophy during the 2025 NBA All Star Game at Chase Center. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The NBA continues to try to shake up its All-Star Game format after the traditional East vs. West format began to grow stale. After a few years in which the top two All-Stars drafted their own teams, this year the league went with its most ambitious format yet: A four-team tournament featuring squads drafted by Inside the NBA's Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith and a fourth team made up of the winning team from Friday's Rising Stars tournament.

Sunday night wasn't without its good moments. Stephen Curry captured the All-Star Game MVP after one of his signature three-point barrages at the end of the championship game. The Rising Stars put up a pretty serious fight against Shaq's team of "OGs," predominantly veteran superstars including Curry, Jayson Tatum, and Kevin Durant. And a young fan salvaged a slog of a Mr. Beast-sponsored shooting challenge by drilling a three against Damian Lillard to win $100,000.

The highlights were few and far between, however. The tournament format didn't do much to improve the effort on the court, outside of a few brief moments (most notably from the overmatched Rising Stars). The broadcast was beset by plenty of discussion about just how poor the All-Star Game has been, primarily from Draymond Green (with a strong rejoinder from Charles Barkley). Kevin Hart dominated a large portion of the broadcast, which wasn't for everyone. Two of the league's biggest stars—LeBron James and Anthony Edwards—dropped out of the game with virtually no notice, preventing other stars from having the chance to compete.

More than anything else, the All-Star Game suffered from the lack of basketball. The games were broken up by lengthy breaks, commercials, bits, concerts and endless other elements that took away from the game on the court. With three games played to 40 points in an event that is famously devoid of defense, the lack of actual hoops during the three-hour broadcast was glaring, featuring just 34 total minutes of basketball according to Esfandiar Baraheni of The Athletic.

While the All-Star Game has had issues for years, Sunday's 2025 edition felt like a clear low point, and the reactions online from fans and members of the media were particularly brutal.

While the NHL has uncovered an instant hit event with the 4 Nations Face-Off, the NBA clearly needs to go back to the drawing board for its All-Star Game. Perhaps Giannis Antetokounmpo's pitch for an international showdown is the way to go.

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Dan Lyons
DAN LYONS

Dan Lyons is a staff writer and editor on Sports Illustrated's Breaking and Trending News team. He joined SI for his second stint in November 2024 after a stint as a senior college football writer at Athlon Sports, and a previous run with SI spanning multiple years as a writer and editor. Outside of sports, you can find Dan at an indie concert venue or movie theater.

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