All Star Game Getting Tweaked...Again

[Donoghus]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
2m
The 2026 NBA All-Star Game format is likely to feature a round-robin tournament consisting three eight-player squads of two USA teams and one World team, sources tell ESPN. NBA and players union presented format to the Competition Committee on Wednesday and response was positive.

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
2m
The two USA teams and one World squad would play each other in 12-minute per quarter, Ryder Cup-style games, sources said. Governors, team executives and players discussed the format positively within the Competition Committee meeting on Wednesday.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Meh. I yearn for the good ol' days of East vs. West and both teams taking it seriously. I'm tired of the gimmicks and the experimentation, and of how it's nothing more than an overhyped, overextended, glorified social media post.

[Redz]

They should just go with th 3 on 3 type thing like Ice Cube runs.  Let the players pick the teams.  Let them keep the teams together year to year if they qualify and want to defend their championship or whatever.  Have something that is competitive, but not a huge risk to injury.

[celticsclay]

I know this makes me the old man yelling at the clouds, but I can't understand for the life of me why the all stars can't just play a normal slightly competitive game like they did for 60 years out of a combination of pride, appreciation for the fans and perhaps a small financial incentive. Baseball manages to do it without it being a complete joke. I also don't want to hear the injury excuse when these guys spend half their summer playing in things like the drew league and pick up games that don't have top notch medical care facility and amatures that could actually get someone accidently injured (heck Chet missed his rookie season cause of an injury in one of these). Can anyone explain to me why this is so hard to just have a normal all star game?

[aefgogreen]

I know this makes me the old man yelling at the clouds, but I can't understand for the life of me why the all stars can't just play a normal slightly competitive game like they did for 60 years out of a combination of pride, appreciation for the fans and perhaps a small financial incentive. Baseball manages to do it without it being a complete joke. I also don't want to hear the injury excuse when these guys spend half their summer playing in things like the drew league and pick up games that don't have top notch medical care facility and amatures that could actually get someone accidently injured (heck Chet missed his rookie season cause of an injury in one of these). Can anyone explain to me why this is so hard to just have a normal all star game?

I agree with you.  Baseball does have something at stake. I'm not in favor of doing that for basketball. I don't think the game should matter but do wish it were more competitive.  I know, I know, I contradicted myself.

[Donoghus]

I know this makes me the old man yelling at the clouds, but I can't understand for the life of me why the all stars can't just play a normal slightly competitive game like they did for 60 years out of a combination of pride, appreciation for the fans and perhaps a small financial incentive. Baseball manages to do it without it being a complete joke. I also don't want to hear the injury excuse when these guys spend half their summer playing in things like the drew league and pick up games that don't have top notch medical care facility and amatures that could actually get someone accidently injured (heck Chet missed his rookie season cause of an injury in one of these). Can anyone explain to me why this is so hard to just have a normal all star game?

Spitballin' a bit here but I think part of it is that you have veterans who clearly don't give a [dang] about the ASG and that messaging obviously impacts the younger guys.  If you had well respected vets in there (Lebron, Durant, Curry, etc..) communicating the importance of the game, you'd imagine that would trickle down to the younger all starts.  Probably is that it doesn't seem like any of those guys give a [dang] so why should the younger guys?

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

They should just go with th 3 on 3 type thing like Ice Cube runs.  Let the players pick the teams.  Let them keep the teams together year to year if they qualify and want to defend their championship or whatever.  Have something that is competitive, but not a huge risk to injury.

I think it's funny, though, that there's this added concern about injury when it comes to the all-star game, when a lot of these guys spend their summers playing for the national team or in some pro-am league. Like, they have no problem with the wear and tear of playing virtually year-round, which is a detriment to their NBA team, but they're so concerned about the very low odds of getting hurt in a once-a-year all-star game.

[Who]

Making a bad game worse.

[Neurotic Guy]

I'll be as interested this year as I've been for the last 20.  Not at all.  It wouldn't make any difference to me if they got rid of the game and festivities entirely - just give the players a nice break.  Maybe the NBA could sponsor a league break charity drive of some sort.  But I guess the league still makes money on this so they'll continue to try to maximize.   

While they're at it I 'd love to see an ending to the in-season tournament too.