The NBA All-Star Weekend 2025 in San Francisco displayed a new format in the games and it received mixed reactions from both NBA Analysts and Fans. But numbers don’t lie when it was announced that this year’s All-Star Game was the second least watched game on record.
So here’s my take on how we can improve next year’s All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
Team USA vs Team World
This format actually has been used back then instead of the NBA Rising Stars which features players that are both Rookies and Sophomores. The USA vs World format lasted from 2015 to 2020. Players like Luka Doncic, Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, and Zach LaVine participated in these games. To me, the NBA should adopt this format again but have it as the main All-Star Game.
Of course, I’d love to see another team spearheaded again by Kevin Durant, Stephen Curr,y and LeBron James take on a team led by Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmp,o and Victor Wembanyama. Similar to the 2024 Olympics, fans are treated to the potential USA lineup come 2028 Los Angeles Olympics if ever this idea turns into a reality.
Remove the Celebrity Game and Kevin Hart
A lot of people may see Kevin Hart as a funny guy since he’s a celebrity comedian, but I don’t. This isn’t 2016 anymore and having him be part of the hosts along with Ernie Johnson during the All-Star game giving some interviews, it felt out of place and completely unnecessary. The comedy is being forced on national television when in fact it wasn’t needed to begin with.
Also, the NBA Celebrity game to me isn’t relevant anymore since the people competing are just Twitch livestreamers and not actual celebrities or movie stars. They should just remove it since not a lot of people are aware of the existence of Kai Cenat and Druski.
My suggestion, have the “old NBA stars” compete again one last time. There are a lot of recently retired NBA players who once had the league in their hands and can actually still play pickup basketball. Players like: Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard, and so on. If the NBA wants to push live streamers and podcasters as contestants, then they can have former NBA players who are now live streamers and podcasters.
Players like Jeff Teague, Evan Turner, Austin Rivers, and Carmelo Anthony fit that description. I guarantee you, fans, even the casual ones, would tune in to that game from start to finish.
1 on 1 Tournament
Here’s something that a lot of fans have been clamoring for quite some time now. A one-on-one tournament featuring the best players in the league. With this, NBA players would actually try and compete for a win.
However one downside to this, benchwarmers maybe the only ones who wish to compete in order to have more playing minutes oncethe regular season resumes. Because just like what Spencer Dinwiddie said in a podcast a few years ago, fans don’t want to see the 7th, 8or th man on the bench in this tournament.
I agree, We want Jokic vs Embiid, Curry vs Irving, LeBron vs Durant, and not Bones Hyland vs Jayden Hardy or Kevin Porter Jr vs Caleb Martin Jr. Worse? G League players may take part in this event and battle against NBA benchwarmers.
But still, if this tournament gets a green light, NBA executives must figure out a way to have the biggest names in the league participate in order to gain viewership and make a statement that they are the best 1 on 1 player in the NBA.
Lessen the Commercials
One Reddit user was able to break down the minutes in the televised All-Star Game.
- Intro (with Ads): 30 minutes
- Pre-Game Talk: 10 minutes
- Game 1 (Kenny’s Young Stars vs Charles’ Global Stars): 12 minutes
- Mr. Beast Shooting Challenge: 5 minutes
- Game 2 (Shaq’s OGs vs Rising Stars): 16 minutes
- Music Performance: 6 minutes
- Inside the NBA Tribute: 9 minutes
- Game 3 (Charles’ Global Stars vs Shaq’s OGs): 14 minutes
- Post Game: 6 minutes
So overall, in the 3 Hour TV broadcast, there is a total of::
- Analyst Desk/Game Intros/Segments: 22 minutes
- Commercials: 80 minutes
- Actual Basketball played: 42 minutes
I understand that with the new format used in this year’s All-Star Game, there’s technically no official “Halftime Break”, but goodness me as an avid basketball fan, I really don’t care about the ads and just wanted to see the best 24 basketball players battle it all out.
After all, it was announced before revealing this new All-Star format that this would make NBA players actually compete to win and give an extra effort in order for the fans to appreciate the game. But how can players give their best when there’s a lot of stoppage in the game?
Personally, I really hated the “Inside the NBA Tribute” because it happened when Team OG’s were about to reach 30 points which is 10 points remaining in winning the game. That 9 mins pause really ruined the pace of the Finals match and it was clearly evident as both teams struggled to make a shot. I love Kenny, Ernie, Shaq, and Chuck but c’mon, that could’ve happened after the All Star Game.
