NBA All-Star Game's New Three-Team Format Draws Competitive Play and Mixed Reviews at Intuit Dome

The 75th NBA All-Star Game delivered something the league's midseason showcase has struggled to produce in recent years: genuine competition. At Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on Sunday, Team USA Stars — a squad of younger American players led by Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards — won the inaugural round-robin tournament, routing Team USA Stripes 47-21 in the championship game .

Edwards finished the night with 32 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and one steal across three 12-minute games, earning the Kobe Bryant All-Star Game MVP Award . He became the second Timberwolves player to win the honor, joining Kevin Garnett, who took it home in 2003. The award carried particular weight this year: it was the first time the MVP was handed out under a format designed specifically to produce competitive basketball rather than the glorified exhibition that the All-Star Game had become in the eyes of players, fans, and media alike.

The new format represented the NBA's most aggressive attempt yet to revive an event that has seen steadily declining interest and cultural relevance. Viewership for the 2025 All-Star Game dropped 13 percent from the prior year to 4.7 million viewers, the second-lowest figure since 2000 . For years, the game had been widely mocked for its complete lack of defense and competitive urgency, with players openly treating it as a vacation photo opportunity rather than a basketball game. League officials hoped the redesigned structure — splitting 25 All-Stars into three teams competing in a round-robin mini-tournament of four 12-minute games — would inject competitive urgency into proceedings that had increasingly resembled a loosely organized pickup game at an expensive venue .

The three teams reflected both the NBA's domestic talent pool and its growing international footprint. The USA Stars roster featured Edwards alongside Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey, Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren, Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, and Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren . USA Stripes countered with a veteran-heavy lineup including Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, Sacramento Kings guard De'Aaron Fox, Houston Rockets forward Brandon Ingram, and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell . Team World fielded a global roster anchored by San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, Los Angeles Clippers guard Norman Powell, Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun, Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam, New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, and Dallas Mavericks forward Deni Avdija .

The first three games largely delivered on the promise of improved competition. In Game 1, Team World, anchored by Wembanyama's 14 points and physical interior play, took USA Stars to overtime before Barnes knocked down a game-winning three-pointer for a 37-35 victory . Game 2 saw Fox hit a buzzer-beating triple to give USA Stripes a 42-40 victory over USA Stars, with Jaylen Brown contributing a game-high 11 points alongside matching tallies from Edwards and Cunningham . And Game 3 produced the evening's most electric individual performance: Leonard scored 31 points in front of his home crowd at Intuit Dome — including 11 consecutive points and a dagger three-pointer with 3.5 seconds remaining — as USA Stripes eliminated Team World 48-45 . His teammates combined for just 17 points in the win, a measure of how thoroughly Leonard dominated the proceedings. Wembanyama had a final chance to tie the game on a three-pointer at the buzzer, but the shot rimmed out .

The championship game, however, exposed a potential structural weakness in the tournament design. With USA Stripes having already played two consecutive high-intensity games — Leonard had just logged 24 minutes across the final two round-robin contests — the final was a blowout from the opening minutes. USA Stars built a 12-1 lead behind Maxey's hot shooting, with the Philadelphia guard scoring seven of his team's first 11 points, and the game was effectively over before it started . Leonard, who had been the most dominant player on the court minutes earlier, managed just one point in the title game . The 26-point margin stood in stark contrast to the three round-robin games, all of which had been decided by a single possession. The lopsided result raised a fundamental design question: does the round-robin structure inherently disadvantage whichever team plays more consecutive games heading into the final?

Not everyone was persuaded that the format itself deserved credit for the improved competition. Durant had expressed skepticism before the game that any structural change would prompt players to try harder, pushing back against the widely held assumption that previous generations of All-Stars had competed more vigorously . After the event, Leonard told reporters he did not fully understand the tournament system and would prefer a return to the traditional East vs. West setup. Edwards credited Wembanyama's intensity in Game 1, rather than the format, for setting a competitive tone that raised the bar for everyone else on the court .

Post-game analysis from multiple outlets identified three factors behind the improved play, ranking them in order of importance: players simply choosing to compete — with Wembanyama setting the standard through his effort and physical play — the shorter 12-minute game format reducing the monotony of a traditional 48-minute exhibition, and the USA vs. World national pride element . Several analysts cautioned that the NBA might overweight the format's contribution relative to the other two factors when planning future All-Star events, potentially drawing the wrong conclusion from a night that worked largely because the right players decided to care at the right moment.

The format's complexity also drew criticism from observers and participants alike. The three-team round-robin required a standings system with point differentials to determine seeding, and the elimination rules were not immediately intuitive to casual viewers tuning in at home . Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged the effort question during the trophy presentation, publicly thanking the players for competing hard — a remark that underscored just how low expectations had fallen for All-Star competitive intensity in recent years. That the commissioner of a multi-billion-dollar league felt compelled to express gratitude to his highest-paid athletes for actually trying at an official showcase event speaks volumes about where the All-Star Game stood before the format overhaul .

The new format also introduced financial incentives that previous iterations lacked. Each player on the winning team received a $125,000 bonus, while the MVP took home additional compensation along with the Kobe Bryant trophy . Whether the prize money contributed to the improved effort remains debatable — the sum is negligible relative to All-Star salaries — but it provided at least a symbolic stake in the outcome that the old format conspicuously lacked.

Beyond the game itself, the weekend highlighted the NBA's ongoing generational transition and the broader questions it raises about the league's star ecosystem. Three marquee selections — Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry, Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — missed the game due to injury, raising questions about whether the event still commands enough respect and competitive significance for elite players to prioritize participation over rest and recovery . Their absence handed the spotlight to the next generation, and players like Wembanyama and Edwards seized it convincingly.

The weekend's other marquee events told a similar story of mixed signals about the All-Star brand's current standing. Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard won the three-point contest while still rehabilitating a ruptured Achilles tendon — a compelling moment that suggested All-Star Weekend can still generate genuine drama when the right players commit to the occasion . But the slam dunk contest was won by Keshad Johnson, a player with just 37 career NBA games to his name, because no established stars chose to participate . The contrast between Lillard's competitive fire and the dunk contest's star vacuum captured the essential tension of modern All-Star Weekend in miniature.

The 2027 All-Star Game is scheduled for Phoenix, where the NBA will face the question of whether Sunday's competitiveness was a product of its new format or simply a one-night decision by players to care. If the league credits the structure over the effort, it risks missing the central lesson of the evening: no format, however cleverly designed, can substitute for players who actually want to win .

Edwards framed the evening in pragmatic terms after the game, describing it as a step in the right direction while emphasizing that the competitive energy came from the players' own choice to take the game seriously rather than from any particular format innovation .