National Basketball Association

NBA to return to East vs. West format for All-Star game

Published Oct. 25, 2023 6:41 p.m. ET

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Say goodbye to pickup basketball, NBA fans.

The league has announced that it will return to its traditional East vs. West format for this year's All-Star game, per The Athletic. It followed a draft format headed by team captains from 2018-2023, in which each conference's leading vote-getter would select a team consisting of top players from each conference.

LeBron James was a captain in each of the six seasons the league employed this style, and Team LeBron won five years in a row, before losing to Team Giannis this past season. The player who receives the most votes in each conference will still be designated captain of his respective team, but he'll no longer select its players.

"The theme this year is, ‘Back to basketball around the league,’" NBA commissioner Adam Silver said at a press conference Wednesday. "We thought it was time since we're coming back to such a traditional market as Indianapolis is … that we were gonna return to the classic format for our All-Star game."

The NBA also announced it will return to its traditional four-quarter scoring method, with 12-minute timed quarters. The game was previously played to a target score of 24 (a homage to Kobe Bryant) in the fourth quarter, with the game clock removed. 

"I think we've lost sight a bit, that it's about the game at the end of the day," Silver said on "First Take" last week. "Joe Dumars is our relatively new Head of Basketball Operations is very focused on it. … A lot of it comes down to reinforcing with our players and our teams how important this is for the fans. One thing I've learned is that particularly with our players, they're very coachable, and that you can't take for granted – particular young players coming into the league – that they understand the generations and traditions that came before them. And I think this is where the league has to reinforce we don't expect playoff intensity, but we expect a competitive game for our fans, and that's what All-Star is."

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