NBA Revisiting All-Star Game Format, Potentially Moving Away from Tradition

The NBA is considering changing the format for the All-Star Game that will be played in San Francisco later this season, Commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday night.

Silver, speaking before the Miami-Washington game in Mexico City, has wanted a more competitive All-Star event for some time. The Eastern Conference beat the Western Conference 211–186 last season, combining for the most points in the game’s 73-year history and marking the first time a team eclipsed 200 points.

“We’re looking at other formats,” Silver said without specifying what may change. “I think there’s no doubt that the players were disappointed as well in last year’s All-Star Game. We all want to do a better job providing competition and entertainment for our fans.”

Silver added that the league is looking at making the All-Star Game “not a traditional game format,” but stopped short of saying what that could mean.

The league has tinkered with the All-Star formula several times in recent years. Among the attempts were scrapping the longstanding East vs. West format for a draft picked by team captains and going to an untimed fourth quarter with a target score to ensure that the game must end on a made shot.

Last year’s game went back to the traditional format—four full 12-minute quarters, East vs. West. And it was nothing but an offensive showcase, with the teams combining for 168 3-point attempts and nearly 400 points.

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“Obviously, it wasn’t high intensity, at all,” Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton said after the game in Indianapolis, where five players scored at least 30 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 50 on 35 shots off the bench.

Silver said with the game—scheduled for Feb. 16—in San Francisco, he’s enlisted Golden State star Stephen Curry to help figure out a way to make the All-Star Game more competitive this season. Any changes would almost certainly have to involve the leadership of the National Basketball Players Association as well.

“It’s a home game for him,” Silver said, adding that he’s had “direct conversations” with Curry on the topic. “I know he’s very prideful and wants to make sure the players put their best foot forward.”

Curry said last year that players had talked “a little bit” about making the All-Star Game more competitive in some ways. The league has wanted that for some time, hoping a better All-Star contest leads to better television ratings for the game and more outside interest.

“I think everyone was disappointed in what they saw last year,” Silver said. “It wasn’t just the league. It was the players as well, the players association. I think we all did what we thought we could, thinking particularly in Indiana, sort of the heartland of basketball, we would see a more competitive game.”

Silver also pointed out that nobody expects the All-Star Game to have playoff-type intensity. He said league executives Byron Spruell, Joe Dumars, and Evan Wasch have formed a committee to talk to team representatives and the players association to try and find a solution.

“We want to do something that will excite the fans and also excite the players, so it’s something they’ll be enthusiastic about playing in,” Silver said.

Silver said the league isn’t ready yet to formally go forward with any expansion talk.

He has said that after the new collective bargaining agreement (done last year) and new media rights deals (done this year) were wrapped up, expansion would be the next big project to tackle. That’s still the case, but nothing is imminent.

“We’re continuing to model, to understand the economics of what it would mean to have additional teams,” Silver said. “As I’ve pointed out many times, it’s in essence selling equity in the league.”

Las Vegas and Seattle have long been mentioned as possibilities, and Mexico City would likely be a serious candidate for the NBA to consider at some point. There will be other cities with interest when the time comes, and Silver said he can envision—if it happens—the league adding two franchises in this round of expansion to push the league to 32 clubs.

“Nothing’s been set, and we haven’t even determined whether to expand yet,” Silver said. “My sense is that if we expanded, we’d do an even number, because then we might have to do some adjustments in the conferences. But I think it makes sense to have two conferences of 16 teams if we were to do it. There have been times in the past in the NBA when we had an odd number, so it’s possible. But I think we most likely, if we were to expand, would look to expand to two cities.”

Silver said fans can expect another Stephen Curry vs. Sabrina Ionescu-type event at this season’s All-Star Game. That’s not a surprise; Curry and Ionescu both said they wanted to do it again after their debut matchup last season, and talk instantly centered on adding more shooters—with Caitlin Clark mentioned as a possibility.

“When you look at the interest in terms of viewership last year, one of the highlights was that Sabrina-Steph shootout,” Silver said. “So, we do want to do more of that.”

By Tim Reynolds