The NBA has spent the last decade trying desperately to come up with an All-Star Game format that will get players more engaged and produce a better basketball game than what the All-Star Game has become. They’ve tried setting a target score for the fourth quarter, having team captains draft teams, putting money for charity on the line, and this year, will go to a mini-tournament format with teams of 8 playing shorter burst games to 40.
The truth is, the stakes of the game just aren’t high enough to get guys locked in and there’s probably not much of a way to change that so long as it’s still a team game. One of the ideas that’s been thrown out by fans and media members over the years is a 1-on-1 tournament, but that’s never seemingly gotten close to being really considered. Not every player is keen on the potential to get embarrassed in a 1-on-1 game — and, truth be told, not every All-Star is built to thrive in 1-on-1 hoops. That said, it would be far more entertaining than what currently exists, and I think most of the players would be way more engaged if they were going head-to-head with a friend or rival. Put a little bread on the line — and maybe encourage players to do their own side bets, too — and you might just get something great.
Given how often it’s been dismissed, most fans have given up on the idea. But with the new women’s basketball league Unrivaled successfully getting much of their league signed up for a 1-on-1 tournament that is happening this week (with $200,000 going to the winner), there’s some newfound optimism that, perhaps, the NBA might see that as a viable possibility in the future. With that in mind, we wanted to take a look at what a 24-player NBA All-Star 1-on-1 Tournament bracket might look like for 2025.
For the format, we’d go with one similar to Unrivaled’s. We like the 7-second shot clock as it keeps things moving, with a 10-minute time limit on games in case they don’t get to the target score. We’d still go by 2’s and 3’s to limit the advantage of shooters some compared to 1’s and 2’s, but instead of 11, I’d have the All-Stars play to 15. We’d also stick with the 1-shot free throws, again, to keep it rolling.
Unrivaled let fans seed the player pool, and the NBA could certainly do that to boost fan engagement in the event. Here, we took the time to seed the 24 All-Stars currently on the rosters (meaning no Giannis Antetokounmpo, who would probably be a 1-seed, or Anthony Davis) and look at some of the incredible matchups we could have if this became a reality.
SEEDS
1-Seeds: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic
Until proven otherwise, we have to have LeBron and KD on the 1-seed line in a 1-on-1 tournament (and seeing guys try to dethrone them would be awesome to watch). They are just matchup nightmares, have the size to battle on both ends with anyone, and are elite tough shotmakers. From there, SGA is arguably the best two-way player in the NBA right now and would be a lock for a top seed.
The fourth spot is what I had the hardest time figuring out. In terms of who is the best player in the world, Jokic is a top-seed without question. However, if Jokic plays with the effort level we see typically from him at All-Star Weekend, he should probably be a 6-seed. Beyond that, part of Jokic’s superpower is his passing, and that’s taken away. But he is also an insane shotmaker, is shooting it at a preposterous clip this year, and no one is better at getting to their spot and getting a bucket. If he’s at all engaged, he might just never give the other guy the ball, especially if he’s bullying guards non-stop. Defense could be an adventure, but it feels disrespectful not to have the best player in the world on the 1-seed line, even though he is the guy that feels most vulnerable to an upset.
2-Seeds: Victor Wembanyama, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Stephen Curry
Wemby would be a lot of folks pick to win, as he might just be impossible to score on. If he can hit any jumpers, it’s not clear how you successfully defend him. Tatum and Ant also feel like locks to be on the 2-seed line, and would also be favorites of some to win the whole thing with their two-way skills. The last spot here was, again, the hardest one to figure out. We debated between Steph and Kyrie and wouldn’t begrudge anyone that would flip those (Kyrie is an insane shot-creator and scorer in isolation). In this case, we gave Steph the nod at the 2-seed because it’s in San Francisco, so he gets the home team bump, and he’s an all-time great.
3-Seeds: Kyrie Irving, Donovan Mitchell, Cade Cunningham, James Harden
Kyrie maybe should be a 1-seed? We had that discussion in Slack, and while he was literally the last man into the field as an injury replacement, admittedly this feels low for his skills. Because what matters most is whether you are a top-2 seed or not because of the bye, we lumped the best 1-on-1 guards into the 3-seed group and put the best remaining bigs and wings in the 4-seed group. For me right now, that’s Mitchell, Cunningham, and Harden — all bigger, stronger guards. We would love to see this tournament in action for the chance to be proven wrong by some of the other guards who we are maybe undervaluing for their size.
4-Seeds: Jaren Jackson Jr., Evan Mobley, Pascal Siakam, Jalen Williams
The aforementioned bigs and wing group. If any of these guys got hot with their jumper, they’re all good enough defensively to put opponents in hell and make a real run. The challenge with the short clock as a wing or a big is being able to face-up and attack quickly, and all of these guys can do that. It’d be a matter of whether they can get those pull-up jumpers/midrange floaters to fall when they can’t get all the way to the rim.
5-Seeds: Jaylen Brown, Karl-Anthony Towns, Darius Garland, Damian Lillard
As it turns out, everyone in the All-Star Game is a very good basketball player so it feels wrong to have some of these guys this far down. Brown, like the guys in the group above, could be really good in this if he can hit some jumpers because of his defense on the other side. KAT is a real Wild Card because he might just be able to rain in threes over anyone. Garland has crazy handles but the size is a concern on defense. Lillard, similar thing, but the shot-making ability is still up there with the best.
6-Seeds: Jalen Brunson, Tyler Herro, Alperen Sengun, Trae Young
For the three guards here, the size question on defense plays a big role in being on the 6-seed line. All of them are talented and diverse scorers on offense, but would face real challenges against bigger players. Sengun isn’t the best defensive big and if it’s a quick shot clock, you wonder about his ability to get to his spots in time to get good shots off. But again, he’s a crazy talented shotmaker and if he can get the touch on those midrange floaters and things, he could give someone the business.
THE BRACKET
Look at this bracket and tell me you wouldn’t be extremely excited to see this tournament. We’ll dive into the first round matchups below, but just look at what the quarterfinals would be if the top-2 seeds all won their first game — LeBron vs. Steph, Jokic vs. Wemby, KD vs. Ant, SGA vs. Tatum. Are you telling me those guys wouldn’t have a little more juice for those matchups? This would be sensational. I’m begging the NBA to go through their rolodex of sponsors and find someone that’ll put a million or two up as a prize for this, because I don’t think the players would turn it down if there was a considerable prize at the end.
FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS
3. Kyrie Irving vs. 6. Trae Young (Winner faces 2. Stephen Curry)
Kyrie vs. Trae as our opener? Yes, please. Winner faces Steph? Double yes. Some phenomenal shot creation skill would be on display in this matchup and it might come down to who can get a stop.
4. Jaren Jackson Jr. vs. 5. Damian Lillard (Winner faces 1. Nikola Jokic)
Matchups are going to matter a lot in this tournament, and this feels like a tough draw for Dame. Still, few are better at shot creation in a 1-on-1 environment than Dame and if he can see an early three go down, he’d have a chance.
3. Donovan Mitchell vs. 6. Alperen Sengun (Winner faces 2. Anthony Edwards)
How would Sengun fare in space defending Mitchell? Could Mitchell stop Sengun from getting to his spots? The cat-and-mouse of the big vs. guard matchups would be fascinating.
4. Evan Mobley vs. 5. Darius Garland (Winner faces 1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)
This is really where I think the 1-on-1 tournament could be especially fun. One of the best parts of the drafted All-Star teams has been when teammates go against each other — the most competitive portion of recent games has been when Tatum and Brown have gone 1-on-1. Here, we get the Cavs two young stars going toe-to-toe in a matchup I’m sure has happened plenty in practice. Could Garland hold up at all on defense? Could he shake Mobley and get the range from deep to make it not matter?
3. Cade Cunningham vs. 6. Tyler Herro (Winner faces 2. Jayson Tatum)
This would be the matchup that got overlooked on paper, but could be one of the most fun early-round matchups. Cade would have the strength advantage going downhill, but Herro can get hot from deep.
4. Pascal Siakam vs. 5. Karl-Anthony Towns (Winner faces 1. Kevin Durant)
I would honestly love to see this matchup. Two very unique offensive skillsets going head-to-head. As mentioned above, if KAT can knock down threes, he’d be very dangerous.
3. James Harden vs. 6. Jalen Brunson (Winner faces 2. Victor Wembanyama)
Another really fun one. Harden would be favored, but Brunson’s Dog In Him levels are off the charts and this feels like a more favorable matchup for him than if he drew one of the longer wings. Of course, both players would only dodge length for one matchup as Wemby would be waiting in the wings on this matchup.
4. Jalen Williams vs. 5. Jaylen Brown (Winner faces 1. LeBron James)
Closing out the night would be the matchup that I think would get the feistiest. The battle of Ja(y)lens would feature some aggressive defense and serious physicality. This would just be two bulls just locking horns, with LeBron waiting in the next round.
