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The Lo-Down: NBA’s new All-Star format fixes nothing

It’s been nearly a decade since the NBA initially ditched the East-West format for the annual All-Star game. What was once a league-wide holiday worthy of celebration has descended into obscurity, and the new tournament-style change to the format will not affect this.

In the 2017-18 season, with competitiveness in the All-Star game having declined greatly, commissioner Adam Silver announced what would be the first of many changes over the next eight seasons. The people with the most votes in each conference would be All-Star captains with an ensuing draft for the remaining selectees determining the teams.

The 2018 All-Star game was ultimately one of the more competitive in recent memory. The novelty of the change inspired higher-quality defense and a much closer game, with what has become a modest final score of 148-145. 

A short-term uptick in competitiveness due to a change has been another trend, encouraging the implementation of more gimmicks. Two years later, following the passing of Kobe Bryant, the 2020 All-Star game introduced an Elam Ending, where the highest-scoring team after three quarters would have 24 added to its total, creating a target score.

The game saw a controversial ending, in which the target score was reached through free throws. But, there was once again a reinvigorated feeling of competitiveness throughout the game, especially in the fourth quarter.

After another four years, the NBA switched back to East vs. West, attempting to inspire competitiveness through nostalgia. Ultimately, though, the 2024 All-Star game ended up being the highest-scoring All-Star game in history, with 211-186 marking the final score.

Now, with Silver seeing the need for another gimmick to inspire competitiveness in the league’s primary in-season honor, he’s turned to yet another new format. The new format will feature four teams, composed of eight players. Three comprised the NBA All-Stars and a fourth made up of the G-League All-Star selectees. The three NBA All-Star teams will be drafted by NBA on TNT’s hosts; Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith.

The issue is that it’s just another gimmick, and will likely be replaced in another two to four years once the novelty of newness wears off on both the players and fans.

Other events are similarly losing interest among the players. The Dunk Contest, which was the highlight of All-Star weekend for a sect of fans, has lost the essence of name recognition and star power it once had. 

The most famous contests featured fan favorites, rivalries and electric reactions from the commentators. Now, we see two rookies with limited minutes, a role player and a G-League player making up the foursome of competitors, while the same reactions that were once iconic are recycled every year, feeling less and less genuine each year.

There’s no clear fix to this. The NBA could simply disband the events, but then you lose the pedigree All-Star selections add to a player’s resume – a marker of an elite season. The league could supply financial rewards for competitiveness, but how would the league measure that?

Although it's uncertain where the league should go, the answer is not to put forth more gimmicks with short-term novelty. The newly implemented tournament format is just another one of those, with no long-term benefit in sight.

Logan Adams is a junior studying journalism. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Logan know by tweeting him @LoganPAdams. 

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