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The 74th NBA All-Star Game occurs Sunday night at Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Golden State Warriors. A new mini-tournament format is in place for 2025. Four teams of eight players will compete in two semifinal games, with the two winners facing off for the championship. The first semifinal tips off Sunday at 8 PM ET.
For each game, the winning team must reach or surpass 40 points. A $1.8 million purse is in place for this mini-tournament, with players from the championship squad earning $125,000 each, followed by the runners-up ($50,000 each), and players from the two semifinal losing teams earning $25,000 each.
The format changes are a direct result of last year’s contest, a traditional format won by the East, 211-186. It was the most points ever for a winning team, the most combined points, and the first time any team had surpassed 200 points. Damian Lillard from the Milwaukee Bucks was the game’s MVP, tallying 39 points and 6 assists. He was one of four players who scored 30+ points, topped by Karl-Anthony Towns, then of the Minnesota Timberwolves, with 50 points.
Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault, now in his fifth season, was named the West coach as the Thunder are comfortably in first place, 7.5 games ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies. Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson, in his first year at the helm, is the East coach after guiding the Cavaliers to a first-place finish in the East at the break. One assistant coach from each of those teams will also coach one of the four teams.
Let’s look at each team’s rosters, review some potential MVP candidates and make a prediction regarding the tournament’s outcome.
A total of 24 NBA players have been drafted onto three squads, picked by NBA on TNT analysts Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.
The first semifinal on Sunday evening pits Kenny’s Young Stars against Chuck’s Global Stars. Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, fifth in the NBA in scoring at 27.5 points per game and an Olympian last summer, leads Kenny’s Young Stars. He is joined by the New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams and the Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley and Darius Garland.
Denver’s Nikola Jokić, a three-time league MVP, paces Chuck’s Global All-Stars. Jokić is currently Top-5 in the league in scoring (29.8, third), rebounding (12.5, fourth) and assists (10.3, second). He’s joined on the team by the Thunder’sShai Gilgeaou-Alexander, who’s leading the league with 32.6 points per game. SGA had 31 points last season, second only to Towns, who is also on Chuck’s Global Stars. Now with the Knicks, Towns is second in the league with 13.5 rebounds per game, to go with 24.3 points.
Second-year standout Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs, Donovan Mitchell of the Cavaliers and the Indiana Pacers’ Pascal Siakam help make up for the loss of the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is sidelined by injury.
A Who’s Who of future Hall-of-Famers composes Shaq’s OGs, which includes six former NBA MVPs. Ageless wonder LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers was paired up with former teammate Anthony Davis, now with the Dallas Mavericks, but Davis is out with an injury. The host Warriors feature Kevin Durant and Steph Curry, while the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics have both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the squad.
The fourth team, Candace’s Rising Stars, will feature the winning team from Friday night’s Castrol Rising Stars event.
Chuck’s Global Stars feels like the safe bet, with Wemby, SGA, Jokić and Towns providing a formidable nucleus. Kenny’s Young Stars should be the trendy pick with the young legs of budding superstars Edwards, Brunson, Cunningham, Williams and Garland.
But we’re going with Shaq’s OGs. James’ 21st All-Star Game appearance will be boosted by the new format, Curry is going to ball out at home, and Tatum will continue to show why the 2025 NBA crown still needs to go through Boston.
Brian has been writing about sports professionally for 25 years, specializing in the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, men's college basketball and football, and soccer. He covered high school, collegiate and professional sports in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area for two decades. His written work has appeared in several print and online publications since 1999.