The All-Star Game(s) included everying but basketball and the NBA should be embarrassed

The basketball, the little that we saw played, at the 2025 NBA All-Star Game(s) on Sunday in San Francisco was — relative to past years — actually entertaining.

Even with a couple of superstars sitting out due to last-minute injuries, the new format did elicit “some” effort. With three shorter games (two semifinals and one championship) between four teams replacing the usual one-game, 48-minute structure, it created more in-game drama along with the effort from players this event was sorely missing. Sprinkling in the youngsters as the Rising Stars team forced the actual nominated All-Stars to step up if only to get no embarrassed on national television. The championship game, won by “Shaq’s OGs”, featured everything we like about the All-Star Game: quick action up and down the floor, fastbreak dunks, behind-the-back passes, deep three-pointers, etc., even if it wasn’t a close final score.

If you only watched the actual basketball being played, you’d probably come away calling this year’s NBA All-Star Game somewhat of a success. But the league and broadcast partner TNT wanted us to forget there was even a basketball game going on. The pregame concert was entertaining, but that’s where my positivity ends.

The three-hour All-Star event included very little on-court basketball. There were far more commercials, studio breaks, and non-basketball randomness than anything else. The two semifinal games, where the first to 40 points won, were far too short and should have been extended to at least 50 points, probably even to 60. The championship (a 16-point blowout) was interrupted midgame for roughly 10 minutes so the likes of Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal could be gifted fishing gear at midcourt. The score was 11-1 when we cut to another break so TNT could honor the Inside the NBA crew — which still has several months left on air — for reasons that I still don’t quite understand other than to satisfy some egos.

Kevin Hart’s jokes, broadcast throughout the entire area at times, did not land and were clearly annoying some of the players, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. There were moments when I had to mute the TV. It was like if the most annoying you know decided to commentate your pick-up run at the local park.

Kevin Hart calls out Shai Gilgeous-Alexander mid-game 🤣

🎥 @TSN_Sports | #NBAAllStar2025 pic.twitter.com/kCvNZnB8A1

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 17, 2025

Why was Hart even there, you might ask? Great question. Possibly because he thought TNT was hosting his next standup comedy special. He was screaming into the microphone for the entire arena to hear, begging the centers to stop shooting threes. His decision to jokingly call O’Neal a “porn director” because of the outfit he had on was something even a 2004 slapstick comedy would think is too low-brow. Maybe the TNT production crew messed with the audio settings, but it sure didn’t sound like anyone in the crowd muttered so much as a chuckle. It was mostly awkward and corny. Hart must have realized it too; he was a bit less obnoxious as the event rolled along, but he mostly just couldn’t help himself.

Mr. Beast, who is unlikable and dull to anyone above the age of 22 — and might have annoyed the players, Damian Lillard specifically, more than Hart did — then decided to show up. Mr. Beast (or whatever the hell his real name is) was on the mic while an 18-year-old college kid attempted to beat Lillard in a shooting contest for $100k. Mr. Beast’s straight-faced “humor” aside, Lillard was in a no-win situation here: either make three logo shots before the kid could make one, thus taking away a life-changing amount of money from someone fresh out of high school, or miss them and get clowned on the internet for losing a shooting battle to, again, someone fresh out of high school.

Lillard seemed to understand the situation though. After making his first two, it sure felt like he wasn’t taking the following shots as seriously. Good on him for that. There’s no real point in “winning” that mini-game. It was a weird event from the start (very on-brand for Mr. Beast though, who seems to take pleasure in watching people less fortunate than him go through silly contests for quick cash grabs). But thankfully the kid in reference, Jaren Barajas, eventually drilled his shot to beat Lillard and win the money.

Honestly, it was the best part of the entire night. The crowd was actually into it. Was it strange when Mr. Beast dumped Barajas into a giant tub of money immediately after? Absolutely. But the players seemed to enjoy the celebration. Lillard and a bunch of mascots were raining dollar bills on Barajas. Again, it was certainly strange, but a pretty cool moment for the kid, who didn’t even have a ticket to the All-Star Game until the day prior.

ngl dame wanted that kid to win and Mr Beast for whatever reason did NOT 😭 pic.twitter.com/DwQDFOyqUD

— kratz🦌🍺💚🧀 (@kr9tz) February 17, 2025

And then we have Draymond Green, who I hope never retires from the NBA if it means his horrendous hot takes will be forced down our throats for the next 25 years. He did nothing but look into the camera and talk about how terrible the All-Star event is and how he basically hates the game of basketball right now. A terrific pitch for non-fans looking to get into the NBA…

Green was going after the NBA for allowing the “Rising Stars” team, made up of only first- and second-year players, to participate. He forgot to include the part where the Rising Stars team gave us the most exciting basketball of the entire day in the second of two semifinals. Green called the All-Star Game format “ridiculous”, which is at least semi-accurate, but failed to mention how the event is currently the way it is BECAUSE OF HIM AND HIS PEERS. The only reason we’re in this predicament with a terrible All-Star game year after year is that Green and his counterparts have refused to show any sort of effort over the last however many years (2020’s Elam Ending excluded).

And that’s all this ultimately boils down to. The players do not care about the All-Star game. They have no reason to at this point. If they showed even 60 percent effort, the event would vastly improve and the off-court gimmicks would go by the wayside. No amount of reward money offered so far has induced more effort. Changing the format is proving to be a fool’s errand, even if there was some modicum of pretending to try this year. Most of this comes back to the players’ inability to care. Maybe a “young” vs. “old” format is the way to go moving forward. But all of the other extracurriculars ruined this year’s edition, and I don’t have faith it will be fixed in 2026. TNT used this All-Star Game as a way to heap praise on everything and everyone but the actual basketball.

And for that, the NBA and Commissioner Adam Silver should feel utterly embarrassed. Silver has been begging the players to take this game seriously, then went and gave them zero incentive to do so with nothing but side-shows and negative commentary. But they probably don’t feel that bad the morning after. All those ads soaking up the TV time surely brought in a nice chunk of coin to the league. If history tells us anything, we’ll be having very similar All-Star Game complaints this time next year. Please save us, NBC.