2025 NBA All-Star Weekend: Improvement or Worse?

This year’s NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco, the home of the Golden State Warriors, was one to both remember and forget. With another new change to the format of the all-star game to another lights-out performance by Mac McClung, this weekend presented its up and down narrative with it that seems to be in each weekend. The weekend started on Friday with a classic, the Celebrity Game. This year’s competition was outlined with country star Noah Kahn and celebrity Druski in a competition that has seemingly gotten worse every year since 2018. The game has failed to get higher-end celebrities to participate, and while this game didn’t include the normal struggle of WNBA players, the stadium presence in Oakland was near nothing, with seemingly half the seats being empty. 

All-Star Saturday Night

The pinnacle event nowadays of the weekend is on Saturday, and with the tickets and the stars being out for all the events, the night was one to be remembered. Starting in the skills competition where Spurs stars Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul attempted to cheat the system by not even attempting such shots, a tactic that would get them disqualified in a major shock to the star center. The competition was a close one, though, as hometown stars Draymond Green and Moses Moody would go up against reigning champ Evan Mobley and his teammate Donovan Mitchell from the Cavs. While the crowd wouldn’t get a home win, with the Cavaliers duo winning, it brought energy to the arena in the wake of the next two events.

The next event of the night was the Starry Three-Point Contest, an event headlined by superstars Damian Lillard and Cade Cunningham, while sharpshooters Tyler Herro and Buddy Hield would also compete for the title. Hield, being the hometown shooter, put up a record 31 points in the first round of the competition while being cheered on by Stephen Curry and Draymond on the sidelines, beating out the back-to-back champion in Lillard, who would be eliminated after a poor score of 16. The winner of the night would once again not come from the Bay, however, as Tyler Herro would win the contest with a score of 24 in a dazzling display of shooting from Miami’s shooting guard. The last event to round out the night would be the Dunk Contest, an event that has gotten major criticism over the past couple of years due to the lack of star power. This dunk contest would be no different, as none of the field would be near all-star talent, with the field containing two rookies, a bench player, and the back-to-back champion in McClung who is on a two-way contract. The contest would once again be saved by the g-league superstar in McClung, as his first dunk of jumping over a Kia into a behind-the-back dunk would spark the crowd in a picture that will go down in history. Spurs rookie Stephon Castle would give him a run for his money in the final, finishing with a between the legs dunk off a made layup, but couldn’t beat the now three-peat champ as McClung would top it, jumping over Cavs forward Evan Mobley while pump-faking mid-air on the rim before throwing down his fourth consecutive 50 for the night. 

The 74th NBA All-Star Game

This year’s tournament style format was looked at brightly by most fans going into it as a way to increase the competitiveness of a game that resulted in over 400 points and an unwatchable product in 2024. Four teams were chosen for this tournament, three by Inside the NBA legends Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O'Neal, with the draft ending in a team with the young stars, the American legends, and a team made up of the world’s best outside the country. The fourth team was coached by Candace Parker and was made up of the Rising Stars Tournament Champion on Friday, headlined by tournament MVP Stephon Castle. The game got worse before it started, however, as besides Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis already being scratched and replaced, superstars Anthony Edwards and LeBron James both bowed out of the game just hours before tip-off. With all games being to 40, the first game would end quickly, with Barkley’s world stars beating out Kenny’s young stars by a score of 41-32. The intensity would be picked up and already shown in this game as young superstar Victor Wembanyama would do exactly what he said he was going to: try. The second game was by far the most competitive, however, as the Rising Stars team would come out with increased energy, forcing the older guys to go on a late run and play defense, winning the game on a Damian Lillard three, 42-35. 

The stage was now set for the final, the U.S. vs. World semi-matchup that everyone wanted. The only issue, however, was the breaks, as just three minutes into the final, the NBA decided to take a 45-minute break that left everyone watching confused. That break was just part of it, with the total commercial and break time compared to game time ending at over three hours of commercials compared to just over 35 minutes of game time. The breaks were headlined by Kevin Hart and Mr. Beast, two highly known celebrities, but two people who shouldn’t be seen more than the actual players. Kevin Hart would be seen over an hour of screen time, posing as some type of fan engagement while taking most of the mid-game break in a much-deserved but wrongly placed commemoration ceremony for the Inside the NBA crew. This break would end up taking out most of the intensity, as the Shaq OG’s would go on to blow out Charles’ team, which was highlighted by a Stephen Curry half-court shot and eventual MVP.

So what can Adam Silver do next year? Honestly, not much. The NBA says every single year that they are going to work to change the format of the game or add more stars to the Dunk Contest, but both problems are mostly up to the players. The only way to fix the all-star game is for the players to try, not to make another new format for fans to criticize next year. The only thing the NBA should do, however, to increase the amount of engagement at the events is the prices. Noted by Celtics star Jaylen Brown, the Chase Center was seemingly half-empty for the game, notably due to the average fan not being able to come close to the thousand dollar entry fee to the event. All we can hope as fans is that the 2026 all-star game in Los Angeles starts to rehash the small increase in intensity shown this year and provides a better product for the fans, both at home and in attendance.