The NBA ruined the All-Star Game, and Adam Silver has no one to blame but himself

74th NBA All-Star Game
Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

The 2025 NBA All-Star Game was worse than ever.

The NBA All-Star Game devolved into full-on apathy one year ago in Indianapolis, and you could hear the passive-aggressiveness in Adam Silver’s voice as he handed out the MVP trophy. What was otherwise a meaningless exhibition game suddenly became used as the prime example of everything that’s wrong with the NBA today: the players don’t play any defense! The only shots are dunks and threes! This would never fly in Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant’s era!

The NBA couldn’t stand another embarrassment as the game moved to San Francisco this year, so they completely remodeled the format. The traditional All-Star Game was replaced by the All-Star tournament, with four teams playing shorter games up to 40 points. One of those teams was the winner of the Rising Stars Challenge from earlier in the weekend, which meant suddenly players like Keyonte George and Dalton Knecht were competing on the same floor as Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.

Maybe the NBA had its heart in the right place by trying to manufacture a more competitive All-Star Game, but the end result was a disaster. The 2025 NBA All-Star Game felt more like a variety show than a basketball game, stripping the best parts of the weekend for cringeworthy moments from streamers and comedians. The biggest problem with this year’s All-Star Game is there wasn’t much actual basketball.

There is not a more cursed phrase in the English language than “Mr. Beast Challenge,” and somehow one appeared in the middle of a showcase of the best basketball players in the world.

The constant starting and stopping took the flow out of the game. Jayson Tatum said it himself. At one point, the game paused so Kevin Hart could get some jokes off at the players’ expense, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked visibly annoyed to get roasted when he was trying to hoop.

The All-Star Game should not be a reflection of today’s NBA product.

The NBA is awesome right now. If you want to see the league at its best, lock in for the Christmas day slate, which was phenomenal this year. Check out marquee regular season matchups, like the thriller between the conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers. Tune in for the trade deadline, which no other league can touch in terms of excitement. The playoffs almost always deliver, and we’re bound to get an extremely high level of the play this year with the league as wide open as it’s ever been.

The All-Star Game is an exhibition for the fans, and the league needs to remember that. It should never be used as a grievance machine for how the game has changed over the years, or as a stand-in for what NBA basketball looks like at its best. The NBA All-Star Game doesn’t have to be competitive, because it’s not a game that matters. In trying to make it competitive, the league put up its most humiliating product yet.

Here’s a small sampling of the discussion that was going on during the 2025 NBA All-Star Game:

The reality is that most NBA All-Star Games throughout league history have been pretty uncompetitive. The players don’t want to get hurt, or push themselves hard in the middle of an eternal 82-game regular season. That’s fine. Just roll the ball out there and let the guys show up.

The All-Star Game should never have the league in crisis. This year’s version felt like a self-inflicted wound, and it really doesn’t have to be that way. This is, after all, only an exhibition game. If some fans aren’t happy with the effort they see at the All-Star Game, tell them to tune in for the playoffs. The NBA product is really great right now, and having a terrible All-Star Game doesn’t change that.



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