NBA to return to East vs. West All-Star Game
Published
It will once again be the Eastern Conference vs. the Western Conference when NBA All-Stars gather in Indianapolis in February.
The league announced Wednesday that the game will return to its traditional format for the 2024 game.
For the past six seasons, the leading vote getter from each conference got to draft his respective team. The East vs. West format had been in place for the first 66 years of the All-Star Game's existence.
The league also announced that traditional scoring will return to the game. For the past four editions, target scoring had been in place with the game ending on a made shot. The fourth quarters had no time limit with the first team to reach the whatever the leading team had after the third quarter plus an additional 24 points - in honour of the late Kobe Bryant - was declared the winner.
The move comes after commissioner Adam Silver hinted that changes might be in store last week.
“Maybe a return to something more traditional, in terms of how the teams are presented,” Silver said as a guest on ESPN's First Take. “We went to sort of this captain-draft notion, but clearly, historically, it was East vs. West, so that’s something we are looking at.”
The 2024 NBA All-Star Game is set for Feb. 18 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the home of the Indiana Pacers. It will be the first All-Star Game in Indiana since 1985.