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NBA Altering All-Star Game Format, Adding Kobe Bryant Tribute

The changes are to encourage more competition, the league says.

By Isaiah De los Santos
2019 NBA All-Star Game Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

The NBA All-Star Game will feature several changes this season to encourage more competition at the marquee event, the league announced Thursday. Teams will compete to win each quarter, with scores resetting back to 0-0 at the start of the second and third quarters.

After the third quarter, cumulative scores from each team’s first three periods will be added up. A Final Target Score will be set at the start of the fourth quarter by taking the leading team’s cumulative score and adding 24 points in honor of Kobe Bryant. The first team to hit the Final Target Score wins. Still confused? Here’s the NBA’s explanation of the final quarter:

For instance, if the cumulative score of the first three quarters is 100-95, the Final Target Score would be set at 124 points. To win the NBA All-Star Game, the team with 100 points would need to score 24 points in the fourth quarter before the team with 95 points scores 29 points, and vice versa.

The first three quarters are 12 minutes each, but the fourth quarter is untimed.

Both All-Star teams are playing for charity. $100,000 will be donated at the end of the first, second and third quarters to the winning team’s Chicago charity of choice. The team that reaches the Final Target Score in the fourth quarter earns $200,000 to donate.

The NBA All-Star Game is Feb. 16 in Chicago. Team captains Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James will draft their teams on Feb. 6.

You can find more information on the changes coming to the All-Star game here.

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