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Imagine Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Luka Doncic all taking the court together in the same uniform. This is extremely unlikely to happen in the NBA… or so we thought. These three international superstars may never play with one another for the same franchise, yet commissioner Adam Silver has opened the door for the world's best to face off against the best from the United States during the NBA All-Star Game.
On Monday afternoon, Silver and the NBA officially announced that the 2025 NBA All-Star Game would be hosted by the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. This will mark the first time since 2000 that the Dubs have played the role of hosts for All-Star Weekend.
Changes to the All-Star Game have been a hot topic of discussion around the league. This year, when All-Star Weekend goes to Indianapolis, the traditional Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference style will once again be used instead of the All-Star Draft featuring two different captains picking from a pool of stars. Silver has mentioned multiple times that he wants to go back to the league's “roots” and that everything is about “getting back to basketball.”
“We thought it was time, since we were coming back to such a traditional market, that we were going to return to the classic format for our All-Star Game,” Silver said in October when announcing the changes to the 2024 All-Star Game hosted by the Indiana Pacers. “This year we will be featuring, as we had historically, it will be East vs. West with the return to the four quarters format we are all used to… The theme this year is ‘back to basketball.'”
For years, the league office has been brainstorming ways to fix the All-Star Game, especially with numerous stars around the league complaining about the competition at the event not being at the same level it used to be. This has invoked new ideas, one of which revolves around a completely new idea the NBA has only ever experimented with during the Rising Stars Challenge.
Adam Silver addresses Team USA vs. Team World concept
Starting in 2015 and lasting several years, the Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star Weekend featured Team USA vs Team World, a concept that highlighted the growing talent across the NBA. Adopting this format for the All-Star Game itself is an idea the league is considering following the 2024 All-Star Game.
“I know we are busy already planning for new excitement,” Silver stated on Monday during the 2025 All-Star Game announcement in San Francisco. “I think people are out there talking about concepts about a Ryder Cup-type format. Maybe thinking about U.S. [United States] players playing against global players. I just know we are looking at all different approaches to All-Star and this is a great market to try new things… Stay tuned.”
The Ryder Cup, as Silver alluded to, is a golf event that takes place every two years where professional golfers from Europe face off in a competition against professional golfers from the United States. Basically, the NBA's version of this would consist of two All-Star teams, one being players from the U.S. and the others being from any other country.
At this point, there is no real movement toward this change, as the league is simply brainstorming ideas of how to make All-Star Weekend more exciting for fans and players alike. The idea of showcasing the NBA as a “global brand” is something Silver and the league office have had an agenda of through the years, hence why this type of All-Star format would make a lot of sense.
Basketball fans want to see the best of the best face off against one another. This is the main reason why the NBA All-Star Game is such a marketable event. However, motivation and the level of competition have declined through the years simply because there is no incentive for these stars to give it their all, especially those who are competing for a championship with their actual team.
Throughout the offseason, there has been a lot of talk surrounding the idea of NBA champions being “world champions” with countless athletes stating their viewpoint on the matter. With a Team USA vs. Team World concept in the All-Star Game, at least there would be a battle for who can actually call themselves champions of the world.
Who would represent Team USA and Team World?
Obviously, the big question surrounding a potential change to a Team USA vs. Team World NBA All-Star Game format would be about what each roster would look like. For all intensive purposes, let's say the league decides to implement this new styled format for the 2025 All-Star Game in San Francisco.
Assuming the roster sizes would remain the same, 12 players from the United States would face off against 12 players representing the world.
For Team USA, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, and Damian Lillard would surely be All-Stars, that is assuming they remain healthy.
For Team World, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Domantas Sabonis, Pascal Siakam, and Lauri Markkanen stand out as the best of the best.
Perhaps one of the biggest question marks would surround Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid and his eligibility to possibly pick which team he would want to be a part of. Embiid was born in Cameroon but has dual citizenship in both the United States and France. He recently committed to play for USA Basketball in the 2024 Olympic Games in France, so it could be possible for him to play for either side if the NBA was to shift their All-Star Game format.
Nonetheless, USA vs. the World offers us, the fans, a spectacle unlike anything we've really ever seen during All-Star Weekend. The Rising Stars competition when they held this format can't really be compared simply because those were young players just looking to highlight their skill sets.
Now, we are talking about the best players in the entire world facing off against one another with a lot of bragging rights on the line. Other countries outside the United States have been getting better and better at basketball through the years and that was very apparent to see at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, an event won by Germany.
So, should we expect Adam Silver and the NBA to implement a whole new system for the 2025 All-Star Game in San Francisco?
Quite honestly, the answer to this is a little bit of yes and a little bit of no. It is inevitable that the NBA is going to tinker with the All-Star Game. They've used this event over the years as a means to try out new ideas and possible changes to the league itself, so we shouldn't be too shocked to see further changes to All-Star Weekend occur.
Then again, Silver made it clear that he wants the All-Star Game this year to feel like the league has gone “back to its roots,” hence why we are seeing the Eastern Conference All-Stars face off against the Western Conference All-Stars. Basic and simplicity is what has found success pertaining to the NBA All-Star Game in the past. The All-Star Draft and all the different rules pertaining to scoring and the quarters had become too much and too crazy for fans to buy into.
The classic East vs. West can easily be turned into the USA vs. the World and if the NBA does things right, they could open up a whole new avenue of opportunities across the globe.
