The NBA is about to once again modify the format of the All-Star Game with a four-team edition, like a playground tournament. The idea is to bring competitiveness to an event that has hit rock bottom over the past two years. As for Kevin Durant, the imagined recipe is difficult to digest.
“I hate it, I absolutely hate it, it’s terrible!” With the All-Star Game, the format keeps changing and all of them are horrible from my point of view.” https://twitter.com/GeraldBourguet/status/1869112296284541336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1869112296284541336%7Ctwgr%5Eb61fa7b056110b3acae135e630d3f3e96358c6aa%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.brightsideofthesun.com%2F2024%2F12%2F17%2F24323706%2Fkevin-durant-rightfully-blasts-nba-all-star-game-format-phoenix-suns after a journalist explained the new formula to him. “We should just go back to an East versus West duel and just play a game. I think we tried to bring back a certain style for All-Star Weekend, but I think we’ll have to stick with tradition. »
As the new formula was imagined in collaboration with players, including Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant cannot reject everything, even before having participated in it.
How to motivate players?
“We’ll see how this one works.” You never know… Maybe I’m wrong, that I’m just a simple player giving his opinion. We’ll see how it works. »
As for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Damian Lillard, we are more measured, the Bucks leader explaining that he understands “what are you trying to do” the NBA, simply trying to put on competitive games.
In fact, the NBA announced that there would be four teams competing in a Final Four.
The team that won the Rising Stars Challenge, led by Candace Parkerand three other teams of eight All-Stars, composed by Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley et Shaquille O’Nealwho will take turns choosing from among the 24 All-Stars to form their groups. A “pick-up game” with All-Star flavor therefore, when you will have to be the first team to reach or exceed the 40 point mark to reach the final. Then to win it.
It remains to be seen whether this format will motivate the players, while this is already the third change of formula in six years, and the two previous ones had not changed the fact that the players now took the match lightly.
To help, the NBA announced that the four All-Star Game teams will compete for a $1.8 million prize pool. Each player on the champion team will receive $125,000, each player on the runner-up team will receive $50,000, and each player on the third and fourth-placed teams will receive $25,000.
