Ratings continue to decline. The 2025 NBA All-Star Game pulled in 4.7 million viewers, making it the second-least-watched game on record after 2023’s 4.6 million. The NBA had unveiled a new tournament-style format, hoping to shake things up, but the result? A 13% drop over last year in viewership across TNT, TBS, and TruTV. Last year, 5.4 million tuned in. 2025 marks three straight years that the NBA All-Star game has failed to crack 6 million viewers - the only such stretch in NBA history. For comparison, the highest-rated All-Star game in the last 25 years was in 2002, when over 13 million people tuned in.

0/10 for the new format. The new format wasn’t a hit among fans. There was a reduction in the time of actual basketball played, which was partly by design (each game had a target score of 40). The goal was to create urgency and excitement, but constant TV timeouts every 10-15 points limited the game’s flow. The format also meant that two teams would play just one short game apiece. Draymond Green, who wasn’t an All-Star but a member of TNT’s studio crew, gave the new format a ‘0/10’, calling it “ridiculous”.

Calls for change. With the 2025 All-Star experiment largely being viewed as a failure, pressure on the NBA is mounting to shake things up. There are reports that the league is considering the addition of a 1v1 tournament for next year’s event in Inglewood, with a prize money of $1 million. Another idea that is gaining momentum is a USA vs. World matchup, backed by players like Victor Wembanyama and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Let’s see if the league is able to fix the All-Star weekend - or if ratings keep sinking.