NBA All-Star Game

The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is the annual all-star game hosted each February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's star players. Since 2022, it was held on the third Sunday of February, the same day that the Daytona 500 was held usually the week after the Super Bowl. It is the featured event of NBA All-Star Weekend, a three-day event which goes from Friday to Sunday. The All-Star Game was first played at the Boston Garden on March 2, 1951.

The starting lineup for each squad is selected by a combination of fan, player, and media voting, while head coaches choose the reserves, seven players from their respective conferences, so each side has a 12-man roster. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players. If a selected player cannot participate because of injury, the NBA commissioner selects a replacement.

Traditionally, the NBA All-Star Game pitted the top players from both the Eastern Division/Eastern Conference and the Western Division/Western Conference. From 2018 to 2023, the teams were represented by the leading vote-getter from each conference and each player regardless of conference was chosen to either team via a draft. The teams also play for a charity of their choice to help the games remain competitive. In 2025 and 2026, the format consists of an elimination-style tournament in which the winning team is the one who first scores 40 points in a game. Although most people, including Podoloff, were pessimistic about the idea, Brown remained confident that it would be a success, and he offered to host the game and to cover all the expenses or potential losses incurred from the game.

The first All-Star Game was hosted at the Boston Garden on March 2, 1951, where the Eastern All-Stars team defeated the Western All-Stars team, 111–94. Boston Celtics' Ed Macauley was named as the first NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, and the All-Star Game became a success, drawing an attendance of 10,094, much higher than that season's average attendance of 3,500.

In 2010, the NBA All-Star Game set the attendance record for a basketball game with 108,713 people attending at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. This shattered the existing attendance record previously held at Ford Field on December 13, 2003, when 78,129 attendees watched Michigan State play Kentucky.

The 2017 All-Star Weekend was originally awarded to Charlotte, North Carolina. On March 23, 2016, North Carolina passed House Bill 2, also known as a "bathroom bill", which was seen as discriminatory against transgender persons. As a result, the NBA announced that it would move the game to another city if the bill was not repealed or revised. After North Carolina took no action, on July 21, 2016, the NBA announced that the 2017 game would be moved to New Orleans. In March 2017, after several provisions of the bill were partially repealed, the NBA awarded the 2019 All-Star Weekend to Charlotte.

On October 3, 2017, the NBA and NBPA announced changes to the game format, starting in 2018. Instead of being divided by conference, the top vote leaders for each conference would be team captains and hold a draft to choose among the rest of the starters and reserves, regardless of conference.

On October 25, 2023, the NBA brought back the conference-based format for the 2024 All-Star Game. The untimed fourth quarter (known as Elam Ending), which had been in used since 2020 in honor of Kobe Bryant, was also removed. However, the charity aspect was retained, with the team that scores the most points in each quarter winning a cash prize that went to their chosen charity.

A new format for the 2025 All-Star Game featured a mini-tournament with four teams of eight players: three teams featuring 24 NBA All-Star selections, and a fourth team composed of the winning team from the Rising Stars Challenge, an exhibition game pitting a mix of NBA rookies and sophomores plus standouts from the NBA G League. Each team was named after the analysts of Inside the NBA. The head coaches in the tournament came from the teams who had the best record in their respective conference through February 2, with the assistant coaches from either team taking over the Rising Stars team and the remaining All-Star team. Three games, each to 40 points, were played.

The tournament format was retained for the 2026 All-Star Game, but the three All-Star teams now consist of a "World" team consisting of eight All-Stars born outside the U.S. and two "U.S." teams consisting of 16 All-Stars born in the United States. In the updated format, Team A plays Team B in Game 1. The winner of that game plays Team C in Game 2, and the losing team plays Team C in Game 3. The top two teams after three games would play in the championship game, with the tiebreaker determined by point differential in the first three games. A modified voting format was also introduced, with All-Stars getting selected regardless of position. If the voting does not result in the selection of 16 "U.S." All-Stars and eight "World" All-Stars, then the commissioner will select additional All-Stars in order to reach the minimum of eight players each.

Rosters selection

The starting five from each conference consists of three frontcourt players and two guards, selected by a combination of fan, player, and media voting. In 2017, the NBA moved from a pure fan vote to a weighted process wherein fan voting accounts for 50%, with player and media voting account for 25% each. Prior to 2013, fans selected two forwards and one center instead of generic frontcourt players. The NBA in 2003 began offering All-Star ballots in three languages—English, Spanish and Chinese—for fan voting of the starters. Starting with the 2026 game, voting will no longer be restricted to position. If a player is unavailable for the game due to injury, the NBA commissioner selects a replacement for the roster. If the replacement is for a fan-selected starter, the All-Star Game coach chooses the replacement in the starting lineup, and is not limited to the commissioner's addition to the roster.

Multiple All-Star players can be chosen from one team, with the record being four. This has occurred nine times, the first such instance being in 1962, when four players each from the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers were chosen. The most recent game with four All-Star players from one team was the Golden State Warriors in the 2018 game.

The game

The game is played under normal NBA rules with some differences. Since the starting All-Stars are selected by fans, players, and media, players sometimes start the game at atypical positions. For instance, in the 2007 game, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady were chosen as the starting Western Conference guards. As both players normally play shooting guard, Bryant started the game as a point guard. Gameplay usually involves players attempting spectacular slam dunks and alley oops and defensive effort is limited. The final score is generally much higher than a competitive NBA game.

If the score is close, the fourth quarter becomes more competitive. The fourth quarter was changed in 2020 to use the Elam Ending. In normal Elam Ending rules, the game clock is turned off with four minutes remaining and a target score is set; whoever reaches the target wins the game. In 2020, the NBA took the score at the end of three quarters and added 24 points (in honor of Kobe Bryant, who had been killed in a helicopter crash a month prior). With Team Giannis leading Team LeBron 133–124 at the end of the third quarter, the target score was 157 points, and Team LeBron won the contest.

The player introductions are accompanied by significant fanfare, including lighting effects, dance music, DJ's, elaborate portable stages, and pyrotechnics. Special uniforms are designed for the game each year, usually red for the Western Conference and blue for the Eastern Conference. From 1997 to 2002, players could wear their normal team uniforms. The "host conference" also traditionally has light uniforms, except from 2010 to 2014. In the past, players who wore the same number were given the option to pick a different numeral. For example, Patrick Ewing, who normally wore #33, ended up wearing #3 early in his career as Larry Bird also had that number. Since 1997, players can keep their uniform numbers. A major recording artist typically sings "O Canada" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to tipoff.

Halftime is longer than a typical NBA game partly due to musical performances by popular artists. The first such halftime show happened in the 2000 game, with Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Mary J. Blige, 98 Degrees, Montell Jordan, Martina McBride, and LL Cool J performing.

All-Star Game records

All-Star Game results

List of each All-Star Game, the venue at which it was played, and the Game MVP. Parenthesized numbers indicate multiple times that venue, city, or player has occurred as of that instance (e.g. "Michael Jordan (2)" in 1996 indicates that was his second All-Star MVP award). , the Eastern Conference leads with a record of 38 wins and 29 losses.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 0 auto"

! style="background:#fcc;"|Western Conference (29 wins)

! style="background:#d0e7ff;"|Eastern Conference (38 wins)

|- Team Lebron: 5 Team Other: 1

Note: Venue names are listed as of the date of the All-Star Game.

{| class="wikitable mw-datatable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

! width=5% | Year

! width=35% | Result

! width=22.5% | Host arena

! width=17.5% | Host city

! width=20% | Game MVP

| 1951 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 111 – 94 West || Boston Garden || Boston, MA || Ed Macauley

| 1952 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 108 – 91 West || Boston Garden (2) || Boston, MA (2) || Paul Arizin

| 1953 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 79 – 75 East || Allen County War Memorial Coliseum || Fort Wayne, IN || George Mikan

| 1954 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 98 – 93 West || Madison Square Garden III** || New York City, NY || Bob Cousy

| 1955 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 100 – 91 West || Madison Square Garden III** (2) || New York City, NY (2) || Bill Sharman

| 1956 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 108 – 94 East || Rochester War Memorial Coliseum || Rochester, NY || Bob Pettit

| 1957 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 109 – 97 West || Boston Garden (3) || Boston, MA (3) || Bob Cousy (2)

| 1958 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 130 – 118 West || St. Louis Arena || St. Louis, MO || Bob Pettit (2)

| 1959 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 124 – 108 East || Olympia Stadium || Detroit, MI || Elgin Baylor <hr>Bob Pettit (3)

| 1960 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 125 – 115 West || Convention Hall || Philadelphia, PA || Wilt Chamberlain

| 1961 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 153 – 131 East || Onondaga County War Memorial Coliseum || Syracuse, NY || Oscar Robertson

| 1962 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 150 – 130 East || St. Louis Arena (2) || St. Louis, MO (2) || Bob Pettit (4)

| 1963 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 115 – 108 West || LA Sports Arena || Los Angeles, CA || Bill Russell

| 1964 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 111 – 107 West || Boston Garden (4) || Boston, MA (4) || Oscar Robertson

| 1965 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 124 – 123 West || St. Louis Arena (3) || St. Louis, MO (3) || Jerry Lucas

| 1966 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 137 – 94 West || Cincinnati Gardens || Cincinnati, OH || Adrian Smith

| 1967 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 135 – 120 East || Cow Palace || Daly City, CA || Rick Barry

| 1968 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 144 – 124 West || Madison Square Garden III** (3) || New York City, NY (3) || Hal Greer

| 1969 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 123 – 112 West || Baltimore Civic Center || Baltimore, MD || Oscar Robertson (3)

| 1970 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 142 – 135 West || The Spectrum || Philadelphia, PA (2) || Willis Reed

| 1971 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 108 – 107 East || San Diego Sports Arena || San Diego, CA || Lenny Wilkens

| 1972 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 112 – 110 East || The Forum || Inglewood, CA || Jerry West

| 1973 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 104 – 84 West || Chicago Stadium || Chicago, IL || Dave Cowens

| 1974 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 134 – 123 East || Seattle Center Coliseum || Seattle, WA || Bob Lanier

| 1975 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 108 – 102 West || Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum || Phoenix, AZ || Walt Frazier

| 1976 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 123 – 109 West || The Spectrum (2) || Philadelphia, PA (3) || Dave Bing

| 1977 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 125 – 124 East || Milwaukee Arena || Milwaukee, WI || Julius Erving

| 1978 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 133 – 125 West || Omni Coliseum || Atlanta, GA || Randy Smith

| 1979 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 134 – 129 East || Pontiac Silverdome || Pontiac, MI † || David Thompson

| 1980 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 144 – 136 West || Capital Centre || Landover, MD || George Gervin

| 1981 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 123 – 120 West || Coliseum at Richfield || Richfield, OH || Nate Archibald

| 1982 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 120 – 118 West || Brendan Byrne Arena || East Rutherford, NJ || Larry Bird,

| 1983 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 132 – 123 West || The Forum (2) || Inglewood, CA (2) || Julius Erving (2)

| 1984 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 154 – 145 West || McNichols Sports Arena || Denver, CO || Isiah Thomas

| 1985 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 140 – 129 East || Hoosier Dome || Indianapolis, IN † || Ralph Sampson

| 1986 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 139 – 132 West || Reunion Arena || Dallas, TX || Isiah Thomas (2)

| 1987 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 154 – 149 East || Kingdome || Seattle, WA † (2) || Tom Chambers

| 1988 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 138 – 133 West || Chicago Stadium (2) || Chicago, IL (2) || Michael Jordan

| 1989 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 143 – 134 East || Astrodome || Houston, TX † || Karl Malone

| 1990 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 130 – 113 West || Miami Arena || Miami, FL || Magic Johnson

| 1991 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 116 – 114 West || Charlotte Coliseum || Charlotte, NC || Charles Barkley

| 1992 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 153 – 113 East || Orlando Arena || Orlando, FL || Magic Johnson (2)

| 1993 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 135 – 132 East || Delta Center§ || Salt Lake City, UT || Karl Malone (2) <hr>John Stockton

| 1994 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 127 – 118 West || Target Center || Minneapolis, MN || Scottie Pippen

| 1995 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 139 – 112 East || America West Arena § || Phoenix, AZ (2) || Mitch Richmond

| 1996 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 129 – 118 West || Alamodome || San Antonio, TX || Michael Jordan (2)

| 1997 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 132 – 120 West || Gund Arena § || Cleveland, OH || Glen Rice

| 1998 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 135, West 114 || Madison Square Garden*** || New York City, New York (4) || Michael Jordan (3)

| 1999 ||colspan=4 align=center|Canceled due to the league's lockout. The game was originally set to be played at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

| 2000 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 137 – 126 East || The Arena in Oakland || Oakland, CA || Tim Duncan <hr>Shaquille O'Neal

| 2001 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 111 – 110 West || MCI Center || Washington, D.C. || Allen Iverson

| 2002 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 135 – 120 East || First Union Center || Philadelphia, PA (4) || Kobe Bryant

| 2003 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 155 – 145 East || Philips Arena§ || Atlanta, GA (2) || Kevin Garnett

| 2004 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 136 – 132 East || Staples Center || Los Angeles, CA (2) || Shaquille O'Neal (2)

| 2005 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 125 – 115 West || Pepsi Center || Denver, CO (2) || Allen Iverson (2)

| 2006 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 122 – 120 West || Toyota Center || Houston, TX (2) || LeBron James

| 2007 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 153 – 132 East || Thomas & Mack Center || Paradise, NV* || Kobe Bryant (2)

| 2008 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 134 – 128 West || New Orleans Arena § || New Orleans, LA || LeBron James (2)

| 2009 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 146 – 119 East || US Airways Center (2) || Phoenix, AZ (3) || Kobe Bryant (3) <hr>Shaquille O'Neal (3)

| 2010 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 141 – 139 West || Cowboys Stadium || Arlington, TX #† || Dwyane Wade

| 2011 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 148 – 143 East || Staples Center (2) || Los Angeles, CA (3) || Kobe Bryant (4)

| 2012 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 152 – 149 East || Amway Center || Orlando, FL (2) || Kevin Durant

| 2013 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 143 – 138 East || Toyota Center (2) || Houston, TX (3) || Chris Paul

| 2014 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 163 – 155 West || Smoothie King Center (2) || New Orleans, LA (2) || Kyrie Irving

| 2015 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 163 – 158 East || Madison Square Garden (2)*** || New York City, NY (5) || Russell Westbrook

| 2016 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 196 – 173 East || Air Canada Centre || Toronto, Ontario, Canada || Russell Westbrook (2)

| 2017 || style="background:#fcc;"|West 192 – 182 East || Smoothie King Center (3) || New Orleans, LA (3) || Anthony Davis

| 2018 || Los Angeles, CA (4) || LeBron James (3)

| 2019 ||Team LeBron 178 – 164 Team Giannis || Spectrum Center || Charlotte, NC (2) || Kevin Durant (2)

| 2020 || Team LeBron 157 – 155 Team Giannis ‡ || United Center || Chicago, IL (3) || Kawhi Leonard

| 2021 || Team LeBron 170 – 150 Team Durant || State Farm Arena (2) || Atlanta, GA (3) ||Giannis Antetokounmpo

| 2022 || Team LeBron 163 – 160 Team Durant || Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (2) || Cleveland, OH (2) ||Stephen Curry

| 2023 || Team Giannis 184 – 175 Team LeBron || Vivint Arena (2) || Salt Lake City, UT (2) ||Jayson Tatum

| 2024 || style="background:#d0e7ff;"|East 211 – 186 West || Gainbridge Fieldhouse|| Indianapolis, IN (2) || Damian Lillard

| 2025 || Chuck's Global Stars 41 – 32 Kenny's Young Stars<hr> Shaq's OGs 42 – 35 Candace's Rising Stars<hr> Shaq's OGs 41 – 25 Chuck's Global Stars || Chase Center || Inglewood, CA (3) ||

| 2027 || United States vs. Rest of the World || Mortgage Matchup Center (3) || Phoenix, AZ (4) ||

;Notes

<nowiki>*</nowiki> – a city without an NBA team in play during that calendar year.
** – a game played at the "third" Madison Square Garden on 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, site of the first three NBA All-Star Games played in Madison Square Garden (1954, 1955 and 1968).
*** – a game played at the "fourth" (as of 2017) Madison Square Garden that runs from 31st to 33rd Streets from 8th to west of 7th Avenues above the western half of Penn Station in Manhattan that opened in February 1968, approximately one month after the 1968 game was played in the "old" MSG.
<nowiki>†</nowiki> – an NBA All-Star Game that is held at an NFL or MLB stadium.
<nowiki>§</nowiki> – a stadium or arena whose venue name has since changed AND the venue has hosted a subsequent NBA All-Star Game under the alternate name.
Portland, Sacramento, Memphis, and Oklahoma City are the only NBA cities that have not yet hosted an NBA All-Star Game. The Kings did host 2 All-Star Games when they were in Rochester in 1956 and in Cincinnati in 1966 when they were the Royals, and the Thunder had hosted it twice when they were in Seattle in 1974 and 1987 when they were the SuperSonics. Thus leaving the Portland Trail Blazers and the Memphis Grizzlies as the only two franchises never to play host to an NBA All-Star Game.
Despite playing in Los Angeles since 1984, the Clippers never hosted an All-Star Game individually until 2026 with the game set to play at Intuit Dome in Inglewood. The team previously co-hosted the 2004, 2011 and 2018 games with the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center), due to being co-tenants of the arena. Its previous incarnation, the Buffalo Braves, never hosted an All-Star Game.
New arenas that have not hosted the All-Star Game are Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, TD Garden in Boston, Kaseya Center in Miami, American Airlines Center in Dallas (the venue did host the 2010 Rookie Challenge and All-Star Saturday), Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, FedExForum in Memphis, Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, and Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Market Square Arena in Indianapolis and The Summit in Houston were the only former NBA arenas to host All-Star Saturday but not the All-Star Game as the latter took place in bigger venues within their respective cities, in this case the Hoosier Dome and the Astrodome.
Other NFL or MLB stadiums that could host the NBA All-Star Game include Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ford Field in Detroit, NRG Stadium in Houston, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, SoFi Stadium in Inglewood (Los Angeles metropolitan area), U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, State Farm Stadium in Glendale (Phoenix metropolitan area), and Rogers Centre in Toronto. Lucas Oil Stadium, however, would host the 2024 NBA All-Star Saturday Night events.