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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — This will be an actual All-Star matchup. On one side, there's a team with 86 combined All-Star selections, $2.7 billion in on-court earnings and where every single player on the team is either an NBA champion, an Olympic gold medalist, or both.
On the other, there's a bunch of young guys without much in the way of resumes yet.
Welcome to the reimagined NBA All-Star Game, a single-elimination mini-tournament: four teams of eight players, three games, first to 40 points wins and a David vs. Goliath element thrown in there for good measure. It happens Sunday night in San Francisco, the NBA's latest way of trying to make the midseason showcase event competitive again.
“It’s definitely different, definitely interesting,” New York's Jalen Brunson said. “We’ll see. I’m just as interested as you.”
There's no more Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference. There are four teams with new names: Shaq's OGs, Kenny's Young Stars, Chuck's Global Stars and Candace's Rising Stars, all a nod to TNT analysts and basketball greats Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Candace Parker.
It'll be Smith's team against Barkley's team in the first semifinal. The second one is the one with all the intrigue: O'Neal's team of some of the biggest names in basketball history — LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
They're going up against this group of first- and second-year players that earned their way into the All-Star mix by winning Friday's Rising Stars competition: San Antonio's Stephon Castle, Utah's Keyonte George, Phoenix’s Ryan Dunn, Memphis teammates Zach Edey and Jaylen Wells, Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dalton Knecht and Houston's Amen Thompson. Fine players, for sure, but they're not All-Stars — at least, officially.
And yet, they could win the All-Star Game.
“I think that’s probably why they put this type of format in, to kind of heighten that sense of pride and not wanting to be on the wrong end of that,” Lillard said. “I mean, we’ll see. I think one thing about a team full of young players is they’re going to come out there and they’re going to play with some energy. They’re going to play fast. I think that’ll probably heighten the competition.”
The Rising Stars team is, by far, the long shot to win this thing, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. It's fair to say that they won't have much expected of them. But that said, Mac McClung — who went up against that team in the Rising Stars competition title game Friday night — said he wouldn't count them out.
“They’re still NBA basketball players. They’re still really good basketball players," McClung said. “And I think everybody’s vibe is just joy right now. We'll see how competitive the game is. I’m excited to watch it myself.”
That's the whole reason for the change: Competition, or at least the hope of having some.
The All-Star Game last year set all sorts of records: a 211-186 final score, almost everything 3-pointers or dunks, and it didn't sit well with Commissioner Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA decision-makers. They don't want Game 7-type mayhem. They want a better product.
So, the tournament idea became reality.
“I like taking chances on something different, knowing that the game had kind of stalled out for a couple of years," Curry said. "I think it’ll work just because it’ll be something new for everybody.”
At least one player is vowing to play defense in this All-Star Game. San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama, a top defensive player of the year candidate who is in the All-Star Game for the first time, said he's bringing his best.
“That’s the goal,” Wembanyama said. “The goal is not to chill, for sure.”
Inside the numbers
To illustrate the size of the mismatch — on paper — in the second semifinal, consider this:
Shaq's OGs have the No. 1 (James), No. 8 (Durant), No. 13 (Harden), the No. 27 (Curry), No. 37 (Lillard), No. 81 (Irving), No. 220 (Tatum) and No. 337 (Brown) scorers in NBA history.
The Rising Stars' leading scorer: That would be George, tied for 1,813th on the all-time scoring list.
The format
It's fairly simple: untimed games, first team to 40 points wins, no fouling out, regular rules pretty much apply. There is no consolation game.
Players on the winning team get $125,000 each. Players on the team that finishes second get $50,000 each. The other two teams get $25,000 per player.
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