2025 NBA All-Star Game: Details of prize money, new format, coaches

The upcoming 2025 NBA All-Star game will be interesting to watch as the association shakes things up once again. Since the first All-Star game was introduced in 1951, the league has followed an Eastern Conference versus Western Conference format.

In 2018, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver introduced the captain ball format, where the captains get to draft their players. Then came last season when it reverted to the East versus West format.

While it was good to see the classic format back last season, it appears that the association wants to spice things up this year. The All-Star game will no longer feature two teams, but four instead. With that in mind, the association will now switch things up to a tournament-style series of games.

Here's everything you need to know.

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2025 NBA All-Star Game Full Details

Each team will spearheaded by four general managers namely Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny "The Jet" Smith and Candace Parker. These GMs will draft in a pool full of All-Stars come February 6, 2025. Each team will consist of eight players. While Shaq, Chuck and Kenny select their NBA All-Stars, Candace will run a team consisting of the rising stars in the league.

After the players have been determined, the coaches of each team will depend on the top head coach and assistant coach in the Eastern and Western Conferences.

The 2025 NBA All-Star game will commence on February 16, 2025. There'll be four teams, three games, and one winner. Each game will have a target score of 40 points. The team that hits the target score first wins the game.

What makes things more interesting is that the upcoming All-Star game will now have a prize pool worth $1.8 million. It'll be divided among the four teams. The amount will vary on each team's placement. Here's a full breakdown of how the prizes will be divided:

• Championship Team - $125,000 per player
• 2nd Place Team - $50,000 per player
• 3rd and 4th Place Teams - $25,000 per player

As usual, the NBA All-Stars will be partly determined by fans. Basketball fans can begin casting their votes on December 19, 2024. Fans will only have around a month to lock in their votes as the All-Star voting will conclude on January 20, 2025.