Pacers Legend Reggie Miller Believes NBA All-Stars Will Be More Competitive in New Format

The former Pacers superstar believes that the All-Star Game will look a lot better this year.

Nov 26, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; NBA on TNT television analyst Reggie Miller during the Los Angeles Lakers against the Phoenix Suns during an NBA Cup game at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The All-Star Game was not competitive last year. It was in Indianapolis, and the Indiana Pacers were the hosting team. They were hoping to put on a good show.

Tyrese Haliburton was an All-Star for the hometown team. Unfortunately, he and the rest of the players did not put on a very good show.

In fact, the game wasn't close to being competitive at really any point. The players were not interested in trying to play hard at all.

The disdain was obvious from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. He was very frustrated when he was handing out the trophies at the end of the game.

Read more: Pacers Star Pascal Siakam Unsure About New NBA All-Star Format

Because the game was so bad, the NBA decided to change the format this year. There will be four teams competing in a tournament format.

Three of the teams will consist of NBA All-Stars, while the other team will now consist of the Rising Stars champion. It's unclear if the format will help the competitiveness of the game or not.

Former Pacers player Reggie Miller is hopeful that the new format will do something to help that issue. He thinks that the games will be more competitive with how things are set up.

"And FUTURE Hall of Famer"

This moment between @ReggieMillerTNT & @jarenjacksonjr 🤝 pic.twitter.com/7blXKVOWbe

— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 15, 2025

Miller believes that the players will actually bring more intensity because they don't want to be shown up by the Rising Stars players. They want to make sure that they don't walk away as champions.

Opinions seem to be split on whether or not this new format will help anything. It all comes down to the care level of the stars.

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The NBA is trying not to get rid of the All-Star Game completely like the NFL did with the Pro Bowl. That game was so uncompetitive that they decided to abandon it completely.

The Pacers have Pascal Siakam represented in the game. Fans are hoping that he has a good game and shows how good he has been all year long.

If things go well with the new format, the NBA will keep it for years to come. If it doesn't they might have to try something else.

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