That means the Washington Wizards have a small chance of playing basketball during the main event.
On Tuesday, the NBA announced that the 2025 All-Star Game format will consist of a four team tournament instead of a traditional East vs. West format. This is the first time that the All-Star Game will be a tournament instead of a single game.
How will the rosters be constructed?
All-Star Game voting will happen first. The NBA Electoral College votes for the starters. Okay. “NBA Electoral College.” That’s because fans don’t have the authority to vote for the starters. They get half of the say, while 25 percent goes to various media voters and another 25 percent goes to players. The head coaches vote for the reserves. There will be 12 players from the Eastern Confernece and 12 more from the Western Conference. You can call them the classic All-Stars.
The NBA’s assistant coaches and league office select the Rising Stars challenge players, who are made of NBA rookies, sophomores and G League players. I’ll just call them Rising Stars. This game is played on Friday, Feb. 14 at 9 p.m. ET, and a winner will be decided then.
The four teams will consist of the following honorary GM’s. Each GM is a TNT analyst:
- Team Candace Parker, who will lead the winning team of the Rising Stars
- Team Shaquille O’Neal, who will lead an All-Star team of eight players
- Team Charles Barkley, who leads another All-Star team of eight players
- Team Kenny Smith, who leads another All-Star team of eight players.
O’Neal, Barkley and Smith will do a draft on Feb. 6 to determine which traditional All-Stars go on their team. Parker won’t have that luxury.
The head coach of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams with the best records will lead two of the traditional All-Star teams of eight players. An assistant coach from these same teams will lead the remaining teams, including Team Candace.
What does this mean for the Wizards?
Washington will almost definitely not have an All-Star starter or reserve. Their best hope is to have a rookie or sophomore player make the Rising Stars Challenge and be on the winning team. Assuming that happens, Sunday will actually be interesting for Wizards fans during this traditional midseason event.
The 2025 NBA All-Star Game will be at Chase Center in San Francisco on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. ET. The game will be aired on TNT. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.