The 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend from San Francisco concluded on Sunday evening, implementing a curious new format for the first time in hopes of keeping eyeballs glued to television sets with competitive energy that fans have been yearning for.
The NBA, like its fellow major league counterparts, always puts on a great production. The lights, the entertainment presentation is always top tier. Add into the mix the money that the weekend brings to the host city, and the fact that the weekend reels in fans from all over the globe with interactive fan events and activations, legend meet and greets and so forth, and the entire weekend is always an overall success. Sunday’s Legends Brunch is always a treat.
The elephant in the room has been Sunday's finale, and this year, the league split the 24 all-stars into three teams of eight, and added Friday’s Rising Stars winner to create a mini tournament. The result was some competitiveness (a lot from the Rising Stars playing against “Shaq’s OGs”), and the expected and welcomed highlight plays. At times, both sides (Shaq’s OGs faced Chuck’s Global Stars in the final game) gave effort but for the large majority of the second game - in which Shaq’s team defeated Chuck’s team 41-25 - complete effort was not there. Frankly, if both teams had played to their competitive capabilities, the score would be a lot closer than a 16-point margin.
Kenny’s Young Stars, a team of mostly wet-behind-the-ears all-stars, played a competitive first game against the Global Stars, with Tyler Herro making highlight plays with his two makes, one of which was a lofty, rainbow triple. Victor Wembanyama blocked Cade Cunningham on a drive. Cunningham came back with a fast flush, making sure the Spurs’ star could not get the ball this time.
The biggest fight, ironically perhaps, was put forth by Candace Parker’s Rising Stars, who hung tough against Shaq’s OGs in a 42-35 loss. Led by Dalton Knect and Ryan Dunn’s 8 points, the Rising Stars played a competitive game, like they had something to prove and wanted to show that they could hang.
Overall, the three games weren’t bad, some competitive moments, and some non-competitive ones. There is a little irony though in the fact that the young guys were the most competitive.
Truly, what should have been the main event - the OG’s vs. the Global Stars, basically a condensed USA vs. the World matchup - did not deliver in that regard. The OGs sprinted to an 11-1 start, Jayson Tatum hitting a couple triples, one off some lackluster defense. On another possession, Donovan Mitchell raced to knock a ball out of bounds. Kyrie Irving played some good defense, and on one play went at Victor Wembanyama in the paint, and threw an alley-oop off the glass to himself on another. He was a refreshing part of the game. Wemby, too, played hard.
One of the strange dynamics was the intermissions during the games. There were extended breaks in each, with the final game having an 18-minute halftime-type break where TNT’s Inside the NBA crew was acknowledged. The best part of the festivities might have been a mini-concert in between the semifinal and final games in which Bay Area and Oakland-based legends E40, Too Short, and En Vogue along with current rapper Saweetie gave an energetic performance. Kevin Hart was on the in-arena public address for some of the games, which took a little away from the action, somewhat a distraction.
Who knows what the future will hold for the game, set to take place next year at the Intuit Dome in LA. The Rising Stars games on Friday were enjoyable, the 4th Annual HBCU Classic (Tuskegee University over Morehouse College, 68-55) was a success, Mac McClung reignited the dunk contest’s fire, and the Legends Brunch always delivers.
As for Sunday’s mini-tournament overall? It was the last All-Star Weekend to be broadcast on TNT, so maybe the thought process was to bring something unique for the network’s final All-Star sendoff.
Not spectacular, but not a dud, either. Still leaves you wanting more. It will be interesting to see what the league has in store for next February.
DNPs: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Chuck's Global Stars, calf), LeBron James (Shaq’s OGs, ankle) and Anthony Edwards (Kenny’s Young Stars, groin)
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