Suns’ Kevin Durant criticizes new NBA All-Star Game format: ‘I hate it’
Dec 17, 2024, 4:10 PM
The NBA has once again reimagined its All-Star Game for this season, and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant was not a fan when presented the new details.
The league aims to put on a more competitive tournament-style event with three All-Star teams of eight players plus the winning team from the Rising Stars Challenge competing in shorter games.
Durant is a 14-time All-Star, having seen the traditional Eastern Conference versus Western Conference showcase shuffled in and out while the league attempts to stick the landing with new gimmicks.
“I hate it, I absolutely hate it,” Durant told reporters of the new format.
“All-Star Game formats changing, all the formats have been terrible in my opinion. We should just go back to East-West, just play a game. I think we’ve been trying to bring that flair back somehow with the All-Star Weekend. I think just keep it traditional. We’ll see how this one works, you never know, I might be wrong. I’m just another guy with an opinion. We’ll see how it works.”
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The NBA has tried having team captains draft their squads and target scores to raise competition levels. Durant has been a captain twice.
Last year, the game reverted back to the East vs. West format, but the effort drew criticism with a gaudy final score of 211–186. TV ratings improved from record lows in 2023, but they remained significantly lower than a decade ago, according to Statista.
Suns coach Mike Budenholzer credited the NBA for trying to find the right blend to keep fans invested.
“Having the fans interested, keeping their attention, capturing them is always a big part of what we do,” Budenholzer told reporters. “Hopefully the new format, the way the players embrace it, it can be an All-Star weekend everybody is excited about.”
All-Star weekend this season is scheduled for Feb. 14-16 in San Francisco.
All-Star Game voting
All-Star voting begins Thursday.
Fans can cast ballots for three frontcourt and two backcourt players from both conferences daily through Jan. 20.
The formula for selection will be 50% fan vote, 25% media panel vote and 25% current player vote for the 10 players who will be designated as “starters.”
NBA head coaches will pick the 14 players designated as “reserves.”
But the starter and reserve columns won’t mean much on game night, since there will be 15 different players starting — five from each of the three teams, obviously — and only nine players coming off the bench in those semifinal games.
How will All-Star Game teams be picked?
TNT analysts Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith will draft teams from the 24-player All-Star pool on Feb. 6. The teams will bear their names — Team Shaq, Team Charles and Team Kenny.
The Rising Stars winner that’ll go to the All-Star tournament will be called Team Candace, for Candace Parker.
Prize money
There is a prize pool of $1.8 million for the All-Star Game.
Each player on the All-Star champion team gets $125,000, each player on the runner-up team will get $50,000 and the players on the teams eliminated in the semifinals will each get $25,000.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
