Steph confident changes can make NBA All-Star Game competitive again

Steph confident changes can make NBA All-Star Game competitive again originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The 2025 NBA All-Star Game at Chase Center will be an opportunity for the Warriors to show the entire basketball world the beauty of the Bay Area, as well as the continuing growth around their home court.

Stars will travel in bunches to San Francisco and Oakland, with celebrities making their way to an abundance of events. Of all the festivities, the game itself somehow has become controversial. And despite the long list of superstars expected to partake on and off the court, all eyes, as always, will be on Steph Curry.

This should be his weekend from Feb. 14 through 16, above everybody else. He also knows the frustrations fans have had in recent years with players’ competitiveness waning year by year during the exhibition event.

In a sense, Curry understands where people are coming from. As a historian of the game, he also knows there’s a balancing point to everything.

“It’s been a heightened conversation for good reason, because it’s about the fans, it’s about the product on the court for the All-Star Game,” Curry said to NBC Sports Bay Area on the latest episode of “Dubs Talk,” which debuted Wednesday. “But everything has a natural evolution, and it’s compared to expectations.

“If you’re expecting it to be like the mid-80s, mid-90s All-Star Game, for a lot of reasons that’s not possible. But if you’re talking about getting to a point where people will enjoy what they’re watching and it can work for everybody, I think we can accomplish that.”

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in early November he was considering changes to the game’s format and has been consulting Curry to ensure the league gets the best outcome for all parties. Silver himself expressed disappointment in last year’s game that saw a combined 397 points as the Eastern Conference beat the Western Conference 211-186. The two teams also attempted an astronomical 168 3-pointers.

The league has tried a handful of different formats in recent years. Last season, they went back to the traditional four 12-minute quarters with the best of the West vs. the best of the East in a game that forgot defense is allowed.

Now, more change is coming. The mid-season exhibition game will consist of a four-team tournament-style format, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Thursday, citing sources.

Here’s how the competition will work:

• Players will be split up into four teams of eight — three All-Star teams and the winner of the Rising Stars game being the fourth.

• The teams will face each other in semifinal games played up to 40 points.

• The winners advance to the final game, which will be played up to 25 points.

The event is expected to mimic a fast-paced competition that resembles pickup games, where the winner moves on to single-elimination play. It is unclear how the All-Star teams will be split up, but the 24 players likely will still include 12 from each conference.

Curry believes the final decision is one players and fans can get behind.

“There’s been a lot of ideas floated around,” Curry said. “The league will probably announce something soon. You’re going to try different formats and things that can spice the game up, add a little element of competition and create a manageable time that guys are expected to play at a certain level, because I think that’s one of the bigger things, especially when you have guys playing way later in their career who are still All-Stars.

“You have young guys who are playing heavy minutes night to night, and it’s not an excuse or a cop out, it’s just a different landscape now. You try to solve for all of that. I think we can.”

Curry will be 37 years old one month after the All-Star Game. LeBron James will have already turned 40. How can they put on a show, have pride in a game that’s for the fans and still preserve their bodies for the stretch run?

By embracing change. That’s Curry’s ultimate message to fans and players alike.

“It’ll obviously come down to the commitment of the guys who are selected as All-Stars to embrace it,” Curry said. “I think change is good, so don’t fight it.”

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