Stephen Curry, of the Golden State Warriors, speaks to the media during the NBA All-Star Game Media Day, Saturday February 15, 2025, in Oakland, California (AP photo / Godofredo A. Vásquez)
San Francisco – It will be a real star match. On the one hand, there is a team with 86 selections combined All-Star, $ 2.7 billion in the field and where each player of the team is either a champion of the NBA, a gold medalist Olympic, both.
On the other hand, there are still a bunch of young people without too much curriculum vitae.
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Welcome to the NBA Reimagined Star Match, a single mini-tournament: four teams of eight players, three games, the first at 40 points and a David element against Goliath there to be good. This occurs Sunday evening in San Francisco, the last way of the NBA to try to make the showcase of mid-season competitive again.
Read: NBA ALL-STAR 2025: Familiar faces, Fresh format in San Francisco
“It’s really different, really interesting,” said Jalen Brunson from New York. “We will see. I am as interested as you.
There is no longer an East conference compared to the Western Conference. There are four teams with new names: Shaq OGS, Kenny’s young stars, world stars of Chuck and Candace rising stars, all a nod to TNT analysts and basketball big Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Candace Parker.
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It will be Smith’s team against the Barkley team in the first semi-final. The second is that with the whole plot: the O’Neal team of some of the biggest names in the history of basketball – LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving , Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
They come up against this group of first and second year players who have acquired their path in the mixture of stars by winning the Rising Stars competition on Friday: Stephon Castle de San Antonio, Keyonte George de l’Utah, Ryan Dunn de Phoenix , The teammates of Memphis Zach Edey and Jaylen Wells, Trayce of Golden State Jackson-Davis, Dalton Knecht of Los Angeles Lakers and Amen Thompson of Houston. Good players, that’s for sure, but they are not stars – at least officially.
And yet, they could win the star match.
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“I think that is probably why they put this type of format, to increase this feeling of pride and not want to be on the wrong side,” said Lillard. “I mean, we will see. I think that a thing about a team full of young players is that they will go out and they will play with energy. They will play quickly. I think it will probably increase the competition. »»
The Rising Stars team is, by far, the long -term shot to win this thing, according to Betmgm Sportsbook. It is fair to say that they did not expect much. But that said, Mac McClung – who clashed against this team in the Rising Stars competition title match on Friday evening – said he would not count them.
“They are always basketball players from the NBA. They are always very good basketball players, ”said McClung. “And I think that everyone’s atmosphere is only joy at the moment. We will see how competitive the game is. I am delighted to look at him myself.
This is the reason for change: competition, or at least the hope of having it.
The star match last year established all kinds of records: a final score of 211-186, almost all that is 3 points or dunks, and it was not suitable with Commissioner Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA decision -makers. They don’t want type 7 chaos. They want a better product.
Thus, the idea of the tournament has become reality.
Read: NBA: Stephon Castle leads team C in All-Star Game
“I like to take risks on something different, knowing that the game was sort of blocked for a few years,” said Curry. “I think it will work simply because it will be something new for everyone.”
At least one player promises to play defense in this stars game. Victor Wembanyama of San Antonio, a first defensive player of the year who is in the star match for the first time, said he brought his best.
“This is the goal,” said Wembanyama. “The goal is not to relax, that’s for sure.”
Inside the figures
To illustrate the size of the inadequacy – on paper – in the second semi -final, consider this:
The Shaq OGS have n ° 1 (James), n ° 8 (Durant), n ° 13 (Harden), n ° 27 (Curry), n ° 37 (Lillard), n ° 81 (Irving), n ° 220 (Tatum) and n ° 337 (brown) scorers in the history of the NBA.
The top scorer of the rising stars: it would be George, tied for 1,813rd on the list of all time.
The format
It’s quite simple: the unco -timed matches, the first team at 40 victories, no fouling, the regular rules apply roughly. There is no consolation game.
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The players of the winning team get $ 125,000 each. The players of the team who finish the second obtain $ 50,000 each. The other two teams get $ 25,000 per player.
