The 2025 NBA All-Star game fell flat on Sunday night, with the new four-team format not really working with neither fans nor the players.
The NBA All-Star Game used to be the event of the year. Think about Kobe Bryant battling LeBron James, Isaiah Thomas locking horns with Michael Jordan. Back in the day, it was a true showcase of basketball’s elite. The weekend wasn’t just about flashy dunks, it was about watching the best players in the world go head-to-head, playing with intensity and passion.
Fast forward to the last decade, and the All-Star Game has gone through a transformation, unfortunately, not for the better.
The competition that defined the game? That’s been replaced by a much more laid-back, “let’s just get through this” mentality. The players look like they’re going through the motions, and it shows.
It wasn’t always like this. Take the Kobe Bryant era, for example. Kobe was the ultimate competitor. He wasn’t there to make friends; he was there to win. Fans may have criticized him for not always playing nice with the other stars, but what they didn’t realize was that his level of intensity was what made the All-Star Game feel real. Kobe didn’t just want to show up and throw down a few dunks for the crowd, he wanted to bring it. That’s what made him stand out, and that’s what fans miss so much today.
Today, though? Things are different.
The NBA had to literally hold an urgent meeting with players before the All-Star Game to remind them to actually play competitive basketball. Think about that for a second.
We have gone from watching superstars fight tooth and nail to be the best to a situation where the league has to beg them to care. The result? The All-Star Game has turned into a shell of what it used to be.
This year, there were only 34 minutes of basketball played across three events during a three-hour broadcast. That’s not just disappointing—it’s embarrassing!
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And it’s not just the competition that’s lacking. The NBA’s obsession with ratings and revenue has only made things worse. Instead of focusing on the players and what motivates them, the league has leaned heavily into flashy gimmicks and entertainment that feel disconnected from the game itself. Sure, the weekend looks great on TV, but when the players aren’t invested, it’s hard to care about the spectacle.
Take LeBron James, for example. He’s the all-time leader in All-Star appearances, but this year, he didn’t show up in the training, or the all-star events. The ‘face of the NBA’ landed in San Francisco on the day of the All-Star game just to announce that he wouldn’t be playing due to left knee inflammation, an injury that he has been playing through for months.
It’s another sign that the players are just not as engaged with the All-Star weekend as they used to be.
And the new All-Star format didn’t help matters. The NBA decided to shake things up with a mini-tournament instead of the classic East vs. West matchup, with four teams playing to 40 points. On paper, it might sound interesting. But in reality? It was a bust. Team Shaq won 41-25, and it looked like the players were just trying to get through the game as quickly as possible. The energy was flat, the competition was weak, and the fans were left wondering what happened to the game they used to love.
So, what’s the fix?
The NBA needs to stop focusing so much on the fans and start thinking about the players first.
If the salespeople aren’t excited about the product, how can they expect the consumers to be? The same goes for the league.
The league needs to go back to what made the All-Star Game great in the first place: competitive basketball, played by players who actually care.
NBA 
