2025 NBA All-Star Game to feature new format announced by NBA and NBPA

NEW YORK – The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Basketball Players Association announced today a new format for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game in the San Francisco Bay Area. The reimagined event will take place on Sunday, Feb. 16 at Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors, and air at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.

For the first time, the NBA All-Star Game will feature a mini-tournament with four teams and three games. Two teams will meet in one semifinal (Game 1), and the remaining two teams will meet in the other semifinal (Game 2). The winning teams from Game 1 and Game 2 will advance to face each other in the championship (Game 3). For each game, the winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 40 points.

Each team will have eight players and be named for a TNT NBA analyst. The 24 NBA All-Star selections will be divided evenly into three teams, with the rosters drafted by TNT’s Inside the NBA commentators and honorary team general managers Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith. The three analysts will make their respective picks for Team Charles, Team Shaq and Team Kenny live on TNT in the NBA All-Star Draft, which will be conducted on Thursday, Feb. 6 just before the network’s doubleheader that night.

The fourth team will be the winning team from the championship game of the Castrol Rising Stars, the annual showcase of top first- and second-year NBA players and NBA G League standouts, which will be played on Friday, Feb. 14 during NBA All-Star 2025. TNT analyst and WNBA legend Candace Parker will serve as honorary GM of the Rising Stars champion, known as Team Candace.

The voting process to determine the 24 NBA All-Stars will remain the same. The five players honored as starters in each conference will be selected by fans (50% of the vote), current NBA players (25%) and a media panel (25%). The seven players honored as reserves in each conference will be selected by NBA head coaches. See below for more information about NBA All-Star voting.

The four NBA All-Star Game head coaches will come from the coaching staffs of the teams with the best regular-season record in each conference through games played on Sunday, Feb. 2. The head coach of the leading Eastern Conference team and the head coach of the leading Western Conference team will each coach an NBA All-Star team. An assistant coach from one of those staffs will serve as head coach of the Castrol Rising Stars champion, and an assistant coach from the other staff will coach the remaining All-Star team.

The four teams participating in the NBA All-Star Game will compete for a prize pool of $1.8 million, with each player on the championship-winning team receiving $125,000, each player on the second-place team receiving $50,000 and each player on the third- and fourth-place teams receiving $25,000.

NBA All-Star Voting

NBA All-Star Voting presented by AT&T, the Official 5G Wireless Network of the NBA, will tip off on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 10 a.m. ET and conclude on Monday, Jan. 20 at 11:59 p.m. ET, giving fans the opportunity to vote for the NBA All-Star Game starters via the NBA App and NBA.com with their NBA ID.

NBA ID, which offers fans benefits and rewards from the league and its partners, is free to join here. Voters in the United States will be automatically entered into the NBA ID All-Star Voting Sweepstakes presented by AT&T for the opportunity to win a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area for NBA All-Star 2025.

During the voting period, NBA ID members can submit one full ballot each day via the NBA App and the NBA.com voting page (NBA.com/vote). One full ballot comprises three frontcourt players and two guards from both the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. All current NBA players will be available for selection.

On six special “3-for-1 Days,” NBA ID members’ votes will count three times. These days, from 12:01 a.m. ET – 11:59 p.m. ET, will take place on Saturday, Dec. 21, Wednesday, Dec. 25, Friday, Jan. 3, Friday, Jan. 10, Friday, Jan. 17 and Monday, Jan. 20 (the final day of voting).

Fan voting updates will be shared on the first three Thursdays in January (Jan. 2, 9 and 16). TNT will reveal the NBA All-Star Game starters on Thursday, Jan. 23 and the reserves on Thursday, Jan. 30.

Current NBA players and a media panel will continue to join fans in selecting the NBA All-Star Game starters. Each player and media member will be able to complete one full ballot during the voting period.

After all votes for NBA All-Star Game starters are tallied, players will be ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups – fan votes, player votes and media votes. Each player’s score will be calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes and the media votes. The two guards and three frontcourt players with the best score in each conference will be named NBA All-Star Game starters. Fan voting will serve as the tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score.