NBA All-Star Game Preview and Game Thread: Will the new format add some spark to the main event?

The 74th NBA All-Star Game will feature a new and unique format, headlined by four different teams this year.

This year’s NBA All-Star Game, featuring two Lakers in LeBron James and rookie Dalton Knecht, will conclude the All-Star Weekend festivities in San Francisco on Sunday.

James will suit up for the team of his fellow Lakers legend, Team Shaq, while Knecht will play for Team Candice, winners of Friday’s Rising Stars tournament.

Start time and TV schedule

Who: Shaq’s OGs vs. Candace’s Rising Stars, Kenny’s Young Stars vs. Chuck’s Global Stars

When: 5 PM PST, Feb 16

Where: Chase Center

Watch: TNT and truTV

In an attempt to improve the All-Star Game and make it way more entertaining than it has been over the last couple of years, the NBA decided to drastically change the format of this year’s main event. Instead of the usual East versus West or Team LeBron against whoever gets picked as captain in the other conference, the All-Star Game this year will feature four teams.

Those four teams are Shaq’s OGs, Kenny’s Young Stars, Chuck’s Global Stars, and Candace’s Rising Stars.

And in case you didn’t quite put together the theme of the night, it’s going to be a tournament between the OG superstars led by LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant against international players like Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic against young local rising All-Stars like Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham and co. against, of course, the Rising Stars.

The format is pretty simple: There will be three games for the night in a single-elimination tournament. For each game, the winner will be the first team to reach 40 points.

The first game will be between Kenny’s Young Stars and Chuck’s Global Stars. The winner will face the team that comes out victorious in Game two between Shaq’s OGs and Candace’s Rising Stars.

The winner of games one and two will then square off to determine who brings home the bacon. The All-Star Game MVP will also most likely be given to the best player of the winning team.

That said, it won’t take long until we see James and DK go at it since their teams will be playing against each other in game two. Knecht, who put up seven points, four assists and four rebounds in Friday’s Rising Stars tournament, said that he’s excited to go up against his veteran teammate.

Aside from the matchup between James and DK, the one that I’m wishing happens is the potential battle between the OG superstars and Chuck’s Global Stars. Of course, that will only unfold if the latter takes down Kenny’s Young Stars and if the OG Superstars defeat Candace’s Rising Stars, who already warned their veterans that they won’t be a walk in the park.

It also won’t be a surprise if Kenny’s Young Stars win it all since they have enough talent. The beauty of this tournament’s format is that we don’t know which matchup we’re getting. Given how the game is played today, any team can win a race to 40 points. But ultimately, the excitement of it all will truly depend on whether the All-Stars take the All-Star Game seriously or not.

Hopefully, this new format will give the All-Star Game some spark and much-needed life this year. Let’s see if we can make Sunday's culmination event of the All-Star weekend memorable.

Notes and Updates

• Since Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf) and Anthony Davis (adductor strain) won’t be able to suit up, they were replaced by Trae Young and Kyrie Irving, respectively.
• After Sunday’s game, both James and Knecht will have a well-deserved three days off before the Lakers play the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.

You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.