NBA All-Star 2025 - New format draws mixed reviews - what's next? - ESPN

SAN FRANCISCO — After last year's NBA All-Star Game did a collective face-plant in Indianapolis, the NBA got together with its players — including one of its standard-bearers in Stephen Curry — to figure out what it could do to improve the league's signature midseason showcase.

The result was a reimagined format — one Curry played a part in creating — that turned one 48-minute game between two teams into three shorter games featuring four teams, culminating with All-Star MVP Curry and Team Shaq routing Team Chuck 41-25 in the championship.

So it was fitting that, on a weekend that wound up being as much about celebrating Curry's legendary career with the Golden State Warriors as it was anything else, it was Curry who was asked whether the format he helped create had worked — and what, exactly, should this event look like?

«We needed to change,» Curry said, referring to last year's game that featured nearly 400 combined points. «We needed some new life, new juice in the game — something kind of unexpected.… The way people consume basketball is different. It's not going to look like it used to. But it can still be fun for everybody. I had fun. Our team had fun. That's kind of all that matters.»

Curry had plenty of fun when he buried a halfcourt shot during the final Sunday night, and then immediately beelined his way to the other end of the court to find rapper and fellow Bay Area icon Mistah F.A.B. to celebrate.

Overall, there were fewer moments of completely lethargic play on the court than previous editions and even multiple notable defensive plays, including blocks at the rim by Jaren Jackson Jr. and Victor Wembanyama.

But at the end of the night, in what has become a tradition for how NBA All-Star Weekend has gone in