NBA All-Star 2025: Everything you need to know about the new game format, rosters, Slam Dunk and 3-Point Contests

The biggest names in basketball are heading to San Francisco to take part in NBA All-Star Weekend. The three-day event will feature numerous events and competitions, culminating in the newly reformatted All-Star Game on Sunday.

Living legends like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry will take the floor together in the games, and emerging stars like Victor Wembanyama and Anthony Edwards will look to break out onto the scene as well. Sharpshooters like Damian Lillard, Buddy Hield and Norman Powell will look to take home the 3-point crown. And high flyers like Mac McClung and Stephon Castle will fight for the title of world’s best dunker.

Plus, the weekend’s festivities will attract many other of basketball’s brightest stars and biggest figures, making it a can’t-miss event for any NBA fan. Here is everything you need to know about NBA All-Star Weekend 2025. 

Recent changes to the All-Star Game

The NBA has gone back and forth with various formats looking to up the quality of the All-Star Game, chiefly targeting the incentive for the players. While the game has been mostly known in recent years for its turnstile defense and disinterested jogging, a couple of these strategies worked to give fans an entertaining and competitive product.

From the NBA’s first All-Star Game in 1951 until 2017, the two opponents were always the same: East vs. West, for the league’s two conferences. However, after two consecutive years of the winning team nearly reaching 200 points, the league decided to shake things up.

In 2018, a new format was introduced. It featured two captains, the highest vote-getters from each conference, who would choose their teams schoolyard-pick-style among the rest of the available starters and reserves. The first edition of this new format was a nail-biter of a game between Team LeBron [James] and Team Stephen [Curry], with James’ squad eking out a 148-145 victory. 

The new format was seen as a massive success, with the competition and intensity reaching levels not seen in at least a decade. However, year by year, the novelty began to wear off, and the league started to look for other ways to tweak the format.

The 2020 All-Star Game was one for the history books. The game was played less than a month after the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, in a helicopter accident. With the tragedy being so recent, the league honored the deceased by having all of the participants in the game wear Kobe’s number 24 or Gianna’s number 2.

Another change that was made was the introduction of the Elam Ending, a new way to play the fourth quarter invented by Ball State University professor Nick Elam. After the conclusion of the third quarter, a "target score" is established, and the first team to hit that total score in an untimed final period is victorious. It was determined that the target score would be 24 points more than the winning team’s point total after three quarters, a number chosen to honor Bryant.

The Elam Ending guaranteed that there would be a game-winning shot, and in the 2020 All-Star Game, it was an Anthony Davis free throw that sealed a thrilling 157-155 comeback victory for Team LeBron over Team Giannis [Antetokounmpo]. 

However, the league ultimately decided to abandon the Elam Ending in 2023, and it dropped the captains’ draft a year later. The 2024 All-Star Game was the first in seven years to return to the traditional East-West format, though it was widely panned as a failure. The game ended in a 211-186 victory for the East, barely resembling NBA basketball. With many prominent voices calling for change, the league answered the call in 2025 with a completely overhauled version of the game.

New All-Star Game format

In 2025, fans will experience an All-Star Game unlike any other before. In fact, it could be more accurate to call the event the All-Star Games. The pool of 24 All-Stars (10 starters voted in by fans, players and medi, and the 14 reserves selected by the coaches), was split into three teams of eight, as chosen by TNT analysts and former NBA players Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.

These three teams will compete in a mini tournament, featuring two semifinal games (Game 1 and Game 2) and one final (Game 3), to be played between the winners of Games 1 and 2. The winner of each game will be the first team to reach or surpass 40 points.

One more team will be added to this tournament: the winner of the Rising Stars Challenge, which will feature standout young players in either their first or second year in the league. This team will be captained by WNBA legend Candace Parker.

The rosters of the three All-Star teams are as follows:

While the teams were supposedly selected by O’Neal, Barkley and Smith in order of preference, it is impossible to ignore that Shaq’s OGs feature mostly older stars, including legends LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant; Kenny’s Young Stars have mostly players 25-and-under, with the exception of Jalen Brunson (28); and Chuck’s Global Stars are comprised of seven international players, with the only Americans being Donovan Mitchell and Trae Young.

Notably, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis are both injured for the game and have been replaced by Trae Young and Kyrie Irving, respectively.

The games will begin on Sunday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m. ET on TNT. Game 1 will be played between Chuck’s Global Stars and Kenny’s Young Stars, and Game 2 will be played between Shaq’s OGs and Candace’s Rising Stars. The winners will face off in Game 3 to determine the first team to be crowned champion in this new All-Star format. 

Rising Stars Challenge

The league’s most promising rookies and sophomores will face off in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday at 9 p.m. ET on TNT, with the winner going on to play in Sunday’s All-Star Game. The players are divided into four teams and will play in the same format as the All-Star Game. There will be two semifinal games and a final, with the winner in each being the first team to hit or surpass 40 points.

The teams will be led by former Golden State Warriors players Tim Hardaway Sr. (Team T), Mitch Richmond (Team M), Chris Mullin (Team C) and Jermy Lin (G League). The rosters of these four teams are: 

Team T

Team M

Team C

G League

Slam Dunk Contest

One of the marvels of NBA All-Star Weekend is the Slam Dunk Contest, where fans get to see the game’s best leapers push the limits of athleticism and imagination. While the contest is often the subject of criticism, one player has helped revive interest in recent years: G League star Mac McClung. The 6-foot-2 guard has electrifying bounce and creativity, and he has won each of the past two competitions.

This event has produced some of the most memorable images from NBA All-Star Weekends past: the battle between Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon in 2016, Vince Carter’s iconic performance in 2000, Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins’ unforgettable duel in 1988, as well as Spud Webb (5-foot-7) and Nate Robinson (5-foot-9) wowing the crowds with their ability to get way above the rim despite their height.

The participants in this year's contest are:

3-Point Contest

Each year, the game evolves, and more emphasis is placed on the outside shot. The 3-Point Contest will feature some of the league’s best sharpshooters looking to prove their abilities from downtown under the bright lights. Bucks guard Damian Lillard is looking to join Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only players to win three 3-Point Contests in a row. He will be joined by four other current All-Stars in the competition, as well as three of the league’s deadliest 3-point specialists.

The participant's in this year's event are:

Both the 3-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest can be seen as part of NBA All-Star Saturday Night, which will begin at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.