- The 74th NBA All-Star game will have a new look on Sunday, Feb. 16, hoping to draw a bigger audience. It’s been 25 years since San Francisco was the host for All-Star weekend.
- Saturday, Feb. 15, the Skills Challenge, Three-point contest and Dunk contest will be held along with Commissioner Adam Silver’s ‘State of the League’ press conference.
- The new All-Star game format will involve four teams playing in a tournament style competition.
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The NBA’s All-Star weekend is underway, and for the first time in 25 years San Francisco is the host city. Friday night, Feb. 14, the celebrity game will get things started, followed by the “Rising Stars” game.
Bay Area icons Barry Bonds and Jerry Rice will coach the celebrity game. The winner of the “Rising Stars” game will punch their ticket to Sunday’s main event.
Saturday’s schedule includes the All-Star Skills challenge, the always popular three-point contest and the slam dunk contest. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will also take questions on Saturday, Feb. 15, during his “State of the League” press conference. He is sure to be asked about the NBA’s timeline for adding expansion teams.
Sunday, Feb. 16, the biggest stars in the game will battle in the main event. The 74th All-Star game has a new format, which comes on the heels of declining ratings and fan interest. Even the players in recent years have seemed disinterested in the outcome of the game. Silver talked about that in an interview with a local San Francisco radio station during the week of Feb. 3.
“Nobody was proud of the All-Star presentation last year. I think the fans are looking for more than just a game and I think that creating the new format we are using this year, multiple games to 40, shorter spurts of activity from the players, mixing up the teams a little, I actually think it’s going to be really exciting. I think it’s gonna be something different,” Silver said.
Silver consulted stars like Steph Curry and LeBron James to ask what they wanted in a new format. The All-Star players will be split into three teams. Those three teams, along with the “Rising Stars” winner from Saturday, will play a short tournament. The winners of the first two games will meet in the championship.
After the All-Star break, there will be in the neighborhood of 30 games left in the regular season and if the NBA trade deadline was any indication it should be quite the sprint to the playoffs for contending teams.