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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Dan Lyons

NBA's New All-Star Game Tournament Format Draws Terrible Reviews

Kevin Hart receives a trophy during the 2025 NBA All Star Game at Chase Center. | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The NBA continues to try to shake up its All-Star Game format after the traditional East vs. West format began to grow stale. After a few years in which the top two All-Stars drafted their own teams, this year the league went with its most ambitious format yet: A four-team tournament featuring squads drafted by Inside the NBA's Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith and a fourth team made up of the winning team from Friday's Rising Stars tournament.

Sunday night wasn't without its good moments. Stephen Curry captured the All-Star Game MVP after one of his signature three-point barrages at the end of the championship game. The Rising Stars put up a pretty serious fight against Shaq's team of "OGs," predominantly veteran superstars including Curry, Jayson Tatum, and Kevin Durant. And a young fan salvaged a slog of a Mr. Beast-sponsored shooting challenge by drilling a three against Damian Lillard to win $100,000.

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