Breaking down Cavs' impact on 2025 NBA All-Star game

02/16/2025 12:05 AM

Last year, Cleveland Cavaliers superstar Donovan Mitchell was the team’s lone representative during the 2024 NBA All-Star game. However, with NBA All-Star 2025’s marquee event nearly here, Mitchell won’t be alone this time. Joining Mitchell are his Cavs teammates Darius Garland, a two-time All-Star, and Evan Mobley, making his first NBA All-Star appearance.

From the sidelines, Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson and his coaching staff will be coaching. When the Cavs superstar trio takes the Chase Center hardwood, it’s a testament to Cleveland’s star-studded roster. However, with Atkinson and his staff calling plays, it’s also a testament to how the Cavs have remained the NBA’s top team throughout the season.

Woke up to the sun shining and just remembered that we are SENDING A CAVALANCHE TO ALL-STAR. #BestToTheBaypic.twitter.com/5KsnA12PgY

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) February 1, 2025

Unfortunately, when Mitchell, Garland, and Mobley take the floor, it won’t be as friends. Instead, the teammates will be foes after the NBA elected to shake up the format for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game.

What’s different for the Cavs during the new 2025 NBA All-Star Game format?

Heading into this year’s competition the traditional Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format is no more. Instead, it is now a four-team tournament with games up to 40 points. The league's 24 All-Stars have been split into three eight-man teams.

According to the league, each player on the championship-winning team will receive $125,000, players on the second-place team each get $50,000, and players on the third- and fourth-place teams receive $25,000.

Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and their fellow All-Stars were entered into a pool for the three teams. From there, they were drafted by NBA legends Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith. The fourth team is Team Chris Mullin, the 2025 Rising Stars Challenge winner.

The first Cavs player to come off the board was Garland, who was selected with the No. 15 pick by Kenny Smith. Mobley, meanwhile, went immediately after to Kenny’s Young Stars with the No. 16 selection. Surprisingly, Mitchell, Cleveland’s lone All-Star starter was the first pick in the final round, going 22nd overall to Charles Barkley’s Global Stars.

As the top teams in the Eastern and Western conferences, Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and Cleveland’s Atkinson will coach a team, and one of their assistants will coach the two remaining teams.

Cleveland will have to their teammates their foes during the 2025 NBA All-Star game

So, although they go to war together on the Cavs, Garland and Mobley will be forced to face a familiar friend, now foe, in Mitchell right away. Smith's Young Stars will take on Barkley's Global Stars in the first game. That contest is then followed by the second game, featuring Shaquille O'Neal's "OGs" who face Team Chris Mullin, led by San Antonio Spurs star rookie Stephon Castle and currently helmed by WNBA legend and sister to Cavs legend Anthony Parker, Candace Parker.

The winners of those two games will square off in the championship later in the evening. The winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 40 points in all three games. A $1.8 million prize pool will be at stake, with each player on the winning team receiving $125,000.

However, will the new format result in a more competitive evening? Hopefully, there is a change for the NBA, especially after last year’s dreadful defensive effort. Last year was so pitiful that NBA commissioner Adam Silver sounded disheartened about what he'd watched.

Lol Adam Silver:

"To the Eastern Conference All-Stars: You scored the most points. Well… congratulations." pic.twitter.com/GWr93btuU3

— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) February 19, 2024

Regardless of who is playing or coaching, the Cavs will be a major part of the new format. With Cleveland as the NBA’s best team, it could set the standard of what it means to be an NBA All-Star. That standard might spark a change toward the best All-Star game yet. Either way, the Cavs, and the NBA, will shine bright during the 2025 NBA All-Star Game.

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