NBA All-Star Game could feature new format this season, commissioner Adam Silver says

A net used for an all-star gameis shown in this undated photo. (New York Times/ File)

After another dud of an All-Star Game, the NBA is again considering a new format to be implemented for this season’s exhibition in San Francisco.

“We’re looking at different formats for this year’s All-Star Game,” league commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday, ahead of the NBA’s Global Games series in Mexico City between the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards.

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Though Silver did not outline what the changes might be, he said the league’s chief executives were actively churning through ideas to find a solution so the players would be more engaged and a better product would be offered for the All-Star Game.

The format change consideration comes after a record number of points was scored in last season’s All-Star Game because the star players didn’t give any effort. Last year, the NBA switched back to a traditional 48-minute game with rosters of 12 players divided by conference (East and West) after years of top vote-getters drafting teams out of a pool of All-Stars and playing with an alternative scoring format.

“I think, even if we could turn the clock back and get a bit more of a competitive game, even if it was more of a standard NBA game, I think fans would want more,” Silver said.

Silver said he has consulted Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, likely the de facto host for this season’s February All-Star weekend, about making changes. He also said Curry and Sabrina Ionescu, a Bay Area native who put on a thrilling shooting competition against Curry on All-Star Saturday night last February in Indianapolis, would be doing so again in San Francisco.

Even if they hadn’t formally announced it yet.

“They know they’re doing it,” Silver said.

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