Kevin Durant slammed the NBA’s new format for the All-Star Game, saying “I absolutely hate it.”
He New NBA All-Star Game format has been met with skepticism by some of the league’s biggest stars, particularly Kevin Durant.
““I hate it, I absolutely hate it,” Durant said. on Tuesday, minutes after the league announced changes for its midseason event.
This season’s format is a one-night, three-game, four-team tournament, in which three teams of eight All-Stars each will participateand the fourth team will be the winner of the Rising Stars challenge for first- and second-year players. The winning team of all matches will be the first to score 40 points.
He All-Star Game will take place on February 16 at the home of the Golden State Warriors. The Rising Stars event will take place there on February 14, headlining All-Star Friday.
“Terrible, the All-Star Game format change, all the formats, terrible in my opinion,” Durant said. “We should go back to East-West mode. Just play a game.”
The commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver has wanted a more competitive All-Star event for some timeand this change comes after the teams combined to score a record 397 points (211-186 was the final score) in last season’s game in Indianapolis.
The teams combined to take 289 shots in that game, 94% of which were inside the paint or beyond the 3-point line.
“I think we’ve been trying to bring that excitement back in some way with All-Star Weekend, I think we’re just keeping the tradition going,” Durant said. “We’ll see how this goes. You never know, I could be wrong, I’m just another guy with an opinion, but we’ll see how it goes.”
Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander offered a more optimistic view on Tuesdayrecognizing the “elephant in the room” of players’ efforts during the All-Star Game.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to come down to whether the players want to do it, and I’d love to see that,” he said. “I would love to be a part of that, for sure, and I hope it happens.”
However, the Memphis Grizzlies star, Ja Morant seemed to agree with Durant when asked Wednesday about the new format.
“Same thing KD said,” Morant said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
