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 — with input from Stephen Curry.
“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.
“We’ve had direct conversations with Steph Curry — it’s a home game for him,” Silver said. “I know he’s very prideful and wants to make sure that the players put their best foot forward, so we’re looking at other formats.
“I think there’s no doubt that the players were disappointed as well in last year’s All-Star Game,” Silver continued. “We all want to do a better job providing competition and entertainment for our fans.”
Though Silver did not outline what the changes might be, he said the league’s chief executives — Byron Spruell, Joe Dumars and Evan Wasch – 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. They have created a committee with team representatives and the NBA Players’ Association to “do something that will excite the fans and also excite the players, so it’s something they’re enthusiastic about participating in.”
The format change consideration comes after a record-breaking 211-186 score in last season’s All-Star Game because the star players didn’t give any effort on defense.
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 we all did what we thought we could, thinking we would particularly — in Indiana, sort of the heartland of basketball, somehow we would give it the college try, and we’d see a more competitive game,” Silver said. “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 again cited Curry — not as a consultant, but as a participant — as an example of what the league is trying to tap into. Curry and Sabrina Ionescu, a Bay Area native and WNBA star, put on a thrilling shooting competition on All-Star Saturday night last February in Indianapolis and are likely to do so again in San Francisco.
Even if they haven’t formally announced it yet.
“They know they’re doing it,” Silver said.
Curry barely beat Ionescu in a single-round shootout in which she shot from NBA distance with a WNBA-size ball. The two immediately said they were interested in running back their competition, with perhaps some changes or even additional competitors.
Silver’s response? Yes, please.
“If we can get more participation, not just for the physical activity but for all the values it represents,” that’s what the NBA wants, Silver said. “And I think showcasing those kinds of activities where you see men and women both competing in basketball at All-Star events should increasingly become a big part of it. And incidentally when you look at the interest in terms of viewership last year, one of the highlights was that Sabrina-Steph shootout, so we do want to do more of that.”