The NBA All-Star Game has become the bane of Adam Silver’s existence. The NBA commissioner has tried desperately to get players to compete harder and take the midseason exhibition seriously in recent years, but has failed to crack the code on how to do so.
His disgust with how players have treated the All-Star Game was never more palpable than after the 2024 edition when he handed Giannis Antetokounmpo the trophy for the East’s win with the glowing praise of: “You scored the most points, well…congratulations.” After that moment, it was a near-guarantee that the league would try something to change up the All-Star format, and they settled on trying to copy the changes they had made years ago to the Rising Stars Game that was a modest success in making Friday’s action on All-Star Weekend palatable to watch.
While the mini-tournament format works for the Rising Stars, it wasn’t well received for the All-Star Game itself and it seems likely that format will not survive past its inaugural voyage in 2025. All signs point to a USA vs. World format (also a former Rising Stars game variant) being the change for 2026, and at least one of the game’s top stars is all-in on the idea.
Giannis Antetokounmpo voiced his support for the format prior to the 2025 All-Star Game and backed it up on Monday with a retweet of a graphic with what the USA vs. World starters could look like, calling it “must-see basketball.”
The only thing that will make the All-Star Game better from a basketball standpoint is if the players buy in and want to try. We saw that in 2020 when the league’s best players all decided to play hard in honor of Kobe Bryant after his tragic death, putting on the best All-Star Game in more than a decade in the process.
For that reason, perhaps this can work if enough guys are interested in it and can manufacture some sense of pride in a USA vs. World game for bragging rights. Unfortunately, getting Giannis to be excited is the easy part, as he has often been the guy trying his best in the various All-Star formats of the past as well. The real test will be getting the other 23 players on board to give more than minimum effort, and consider me skeptical of that happening to the desired level the NBA wants.
