The NBA All-Star Game saw its format change from confernce play to a fantasy-like draft format back in 2018. By and large, this has been a success. Well, up until recently.
For some, seeing teammates go up against one another in the All-Star Game has been a treat. For the traditionalists out there, this format has been an utter failure.
We now have some good news for those in the latter group. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver appeared on ESPN Wednesday and opened up the possibility of going back to the Eastern Conference playing the Western Conference.
“We’re looking at some potential changes in format in Indianapolis this year,” Silver said about the 2024 All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. “Maybe a return to something more traditional in terms of how the teams are presented. We went to sort of this captain and draft notion, but clearly historically it was East vs. West. So that’s maybe something we are looking at.”
Adam Silver on potential changes to the NBA All-Star Game
LeBron James has been captain all six times that the NBA has used its current format. The idea of him again teaming up with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Luka Doncic on the west’s team could very well be appealing. The same thing could be said for new Milwaukee Bucks teammates Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard back east.
“When you turn on an NBA All-Star Game, I think people expect to see some competition,” said Joe Dumars, the league’s executive vice president and head of basketball operations. “There’s a happy medium somewhere between a hard-fought playoff game and what you saw last year. … When you have the reaction that fans had and people had around the game and just visually, it matters because it didn’t make the product look good.”
That’s another major point here. The NBA doesn’t want its midseason format to turn into its version of the Pro Bowl. The NFL ditched a game format two years ago because of a lack of competition as well as no real interest from the common football fan.
The 2023-24 NBA All-Star game is slated to take place in Indianapolis on February 18. The league will obviously have a decision on the format long before then.