The NBA is once again trying to make the All-Star Game competitive.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will have at least one representative at the NBA All-Star Game with Donovan Mitchell. They could however have as many as three along with head coach Kenny Atkinson if the Cavs remain in the top spot in the conference. Those representatives will be playing in a different format for the third time in as many years.
The way the All-Stars are chosen will remain the same. There will be 24 representatives with 12 coming from each conference. Starters will be selected by a combination of fans, NBA players, and media votes. The reserves will be chosen by NBA head coaches.
The game format is what will be different.
There will be four teams playing in a mini-tournament. The All-Stars will be split into three teams of eight that will be chosen by Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith. The fourth team will be the winner of the Rising Stars game.
The teams will play three combined games to a target score of 40 in each one. The winners of the first two games will play in a final game to determine the winner.
The winning team will split a prize of $1.8 million. Each player on the second-place team will receive $50k. The third and fourth-place teams will receive $25k per player.
The All-Star Game has been bad for close to a decade. The last two seasons, however, took it to new lows. Effort has been a problem in these games, but the issues also stem from how the game has evolved. A juiced-up version of a spaced-out, three-point basketball just isn’t nearly as exciting as an exaggerated version of how the game was played in the 90s or early 2000s.
This new format will be similar to how the Rising Stars games have been recently and the NHL All-Star game to a certain extent. Both are probably better than what they were before the changes, but they certainly aren’t must-see TV events.
We’ll see if these changes actually make a difference in the overall game. I’m skeptical that anything will look meaningful different this time around, but we’ll see. At the very least, it can’t be worse.
The All-Star Game will take place on Feb. 8 in San Francisco.
