The 2025 NBA All-Star Game will take place this weekend and it’s going to be an event that we’ve never seen before.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry and more of the league’s biggest stars will be taking part in this year’s iconic annual exhibition match.
Typically, the game would be a traditional 48-minute clash between fan-voted players from the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference.
However, after some controversy about the 2024 exhibition which was labelled ‘unwatchable’, there have been some major changes this time around…
NBA All-Star Game 2025: Rules and format
The 2025 All-Star Game is not in the usual format.
This season, a mini-tournament is replacing the traditional single game, with 24 players making up three teams while the winner of the Rising Stars game are the fourth.
Those four teams of eight players will play in two semi-final clashes, with the winner of each semi moving on to the Championship game.
In each game, the winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 40 points.
A unique addition to the new format is that the teams were picked by TNT’s Inside the NBA panel – Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith.
After the 24 All-Stars were selected, the three panellists and NBA legends drafted their teams, creating Team Chuck, Team Shaq and Team Kenny.
The teams were then confirmed last month, with 10 starters and 14 reserves being selected onto line-ups.
The fourth team in the tournament is the winning Rising Stars team as mentioned, and they will be named Team Candace after WNBA legend and TNT analyst Candace Parker.
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When deciding the 24 All-Stars, the vote remained the same, with fans, NBA players and a media panel voting for players.
Each team will be led by a head coach or assistant from the top teams in the Eastern and Western Conference at the time.
So that means Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson and Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault are in.
An assistant from their staff will take charge of the two other teams.
The 2025 All-Star game prize pot is set at $1.8million, with each player on the winning team receiving $125,000.
Players get $50,000 each for coming second while the third and fourth teams are rewarded with $25,000 each.
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NBA All-Star Game 2025: Teams
Here’s how Team Shaq, Chuck, and Kenny look after their draft.
Team Candace will be the winning team in the Rising Star Game.
Team Shaq
- LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers)
- Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
- Kyrie Irving (Dallas Mavericks)
- Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics)
- Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns)
- Damian Lillard (Milwaukee Bucks)
- James Harden (Los Angeles Clippers)
- Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics)
Team Chuck
- Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
- Karl-Anthony Towns (New York Knicks)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder)
- Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs)
- Pascal Siakam (Indiana Pacers)
- Alperen Sengun (Houston Rockets)
- Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland Cavaliers)
- Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks)
Team Kenny
- Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves)
- Jalen Brunson (New York Knicks)
- Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis Grizzlies)
- Jalen Williams (Oklahoma City Thunder)
- Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers)
- Evan Mobley (Cleveland Cavaliers)
- Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons)
- Tyler Herro (Miami Heat)
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NBA All-Star Game 2025: Date and start time
The NBA All-Star Game will take place on Sunday, February 16.
It will be held at the Chase Center in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The game will be the main event of All-Star Weekend which begins on Friday, February 14 with the Celebrity Game and the Rising Stars match.
The skills challenge, three-point contest and dunk contest will take place on Saturday, February 15.
Tip-off in the All-Star mini-tournament is expected at around 8pm ET on Sunday, which is at 1am on Monday morning in the UK.
Two semi-finals will take place before the Championship game.
NBA All-Star Game 2025: How to follow
The game will be broadcast live on TNT Sports in the UK.
More details on coverage are set to follow but in the meantime, fans can find out more details on TNT Sports’ NBA coverage here.
You can sign up to discovery+ and TNT Sports here too.
talkSPORT and talkSPORT.com will keep you up to date with the latest.
To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.
You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
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