Commissioner
The reason: Silver wants the All-Star Game to look more like traditional basketball.
“It felt like it was time,” Silver said. “I said earlier, keeping with this overall theme, it's back to basketball this season. We heard it from our fans, I think the players recognize it, too, that last year's All-Star Game was something no one was proud of, and I don't think it was anyone's fault in particular. I think, though, that we need to refocus on what this league is really about and that's about the best basketball in the world.”
Another change — the game will be 48 minutes. Since 2020, the league added 24 points to the leading team's score after three quarters and played the fourth quarter with only a shot clock but no game clock. The first team to hit the target score won.
And it's no coincidence the changes are taking place in
“If there ever was a place to restore the NBA to something that seemed more classic it was an All-Star Game at Indianapolis,” Silver said. “Let's just make it a pure 48-minute basketball game, the team that scores the most point in 48 minutes.”
The first 66 All-Star Games all featured
Not enough people watched. Ratings plummeted for last season’s game, which wasn’t competitive. Some of the top stars, including Curry, Durant, James and Antetokounmpo either missed the game entirely or played very briefly because of injuries.
The 2023 matchup was entertaining in other ways – Boston’s
“This last year was a travesty in terms of the effort, in terms of how it looked. It looked horrible,”
It wasn't just players who found it unsatisfactory.
Indiana coach
“It seems like pure
Carlisle even had a suggestion for making the game more competitive: “Is there any way to increase the money for winning? That's the obvious one.”
League officials are also considering options to possibly honor the ABA during All-Star weekend, such as using a red, white and blue ball. Indiana won three championships and was one of four teams from the now-defunct league to move to the NBA. No decisions have been made on that front.
To Silver, though, the biggest change is to bring back the elements that made the NBA All-Star Game a huge draw — pure basketball.
“I think the live draft was interesting, but I think it was a reminder to everybody at the league office that it's ultimately about the game,” Silver said. “If the game is in order, you can do all those fun things, but they have to be ancillary to the game. It was a reminder we don't lose focus on what's most important and that is the game itself.”
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AP Basketball Writer
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