Kevin Durant has strong feelings toward the new All-Star Game format

The NBA announced its new format for the All-Star game and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant is not happy about it. The new format features four teams playing in a mini-tournament made of two semifinal games and a final. Three of the teams will be made up of eight NBA All-Stars each and the fourth team will be players from the championship game of the Rising Stars game. The winner of each game will be the team that reaches 40 points first.

When Durant was asked about the new format on Tuesday he gave a very blunt answer.

"I hate it, I absolutely hate it," he said. "Terrible. All-Star Game format changing, all the formats -- terrible in my opinion. We should just go back to East-West. Just play a game. I think we've been trying to bring that flare back somehow with All-Star Weekend, I think we just keep the tradition. We'll see how this one works. You never know, I might be wrong, I'm just another guy with an opinion, but we'll see how it works."

I asked Kevin Durant what he thought about the new format for the NBA All-Star Game: “I hate it. Absolutely hate it. Terrible….We should just go back to East-West.” pic.twitter.com/T7owR5aJY7
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) December 17, 2024

The NBA made the change in part because they believe this format will make the games more competitive. The past few All-Star games have been completely devoid of defense -- last year's game was a 211-186 win for the Eastern Conference.

Durant's reaction isn't a great sign for the NBA, which is trying to bring back a real entertaining game, not a dunk and three-point contest disguising itself as a basketball game. All-Star weekend already has both of those contests and fans just want to watch a basketball game come Sunday night.

Fans enjoyed when the NBA made a past change to the game, introducing the Elam Ending, which turns the game clock off in the fourth quarter and gives a target score that a team must achieve to win and end the game. The NBA decided to honor Kobe Bryant by making the target score 24 points more than what the leading team finished the third quarter with. However, last year, when the NBA went back to East vs. West, they got rid of the Elam Ending. Time will tell how fans react to this change.

The new format seems more promising than traditional East vs. West in terms of providing entertainment and good basketball, but it needs players to be in on the idea as well. If Durant's reaction is what other players are feeling, the NBA might need to head back to the drawing board.