NBA All-Star Weekend ended on Sunday with the 2025 NBA All-Star Game and its new tournament-style format.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver introduced the new format for this year’s event in hopes of drumming up more interest in the contest. Although fans, coaches and media voted for the All-Stars, they were then split up into three teams and led by the NBA on TNT panelists. The fourth team of the new format was the winner of the 2025 Castrol Rising Stars Game.
Games were played to 40 with no time limit, creating shorter games and breaks in between games.
The tournament started with Team Kenny against Team Chuck, with the former boasting a collection of international stars while the latter had the next crop of up-and-coming faces of the league. Team Kenny was featured the likes of Tyler Herro, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jalen Brunson while Team Chuck was headlined Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Both teams came out relatively slow offensively, though Team Chuck started to take control once Victor Wembanyama came into the game. Wembanyama showed off his two-way play in his first All-Star appearance and injected some more life into the competition.
Later on, Gilgeous-Alexander got going from beyond the arc and wound up scoring the game-winning basket after blowing by Jaren Jackson Jr. for a dunk. Team Chuck won 41-32 and advanced to the Finals where they awaited the winner of Team Shaq versus Team Candace.
Team Shaq was made up of the old guard of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and James Harden while Team Candace had intriguing rookies like Stephon Castle and Dalton Knecht. Although Team Shaq was heavily favored, the youth and enthusiasm on Team Candace was apparent on the floor as they played much harder.
The game was closer than anticipated but Jaylen Brown was able to keep Team Shaq ahead with multiple buckets. Damian Lillard took over late, setting up Kevin Durant for a dunk before nailing the game-winning 3-pointer to give Team Shaq a 42-35 victory.
The final matchup between Team Shaq and Team Chuck ended up resembling previous All-Star Games as the former got off to a hot start and didn’t look back. Jayson Tatum and Stephen Curry couldn’t be stopped as the duo combined for 27 points.
Curry lit things up from distance, while Tatum finished the evening off with an uncontested dunk. Team Shaq beat Team Chuck 41-25. Curry was named the 2025 NBA All-Star Game after dropping 12 points in the final game.
LeBron James misses 2025 NBA All-Star Game with ankle discomfort
LeBron James announced a few hours prior to the 2025 NBA All-Star Game that he would miss the event with ankle soreness. James added he wanted to play, but is prioritizing the second half of the 2024-25 season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
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