Skip to content

Report: NBA considering nixing All-Star Game next season

Logan Riely / National Basketball Association / Getty

We may not see another NBA All-Star Game until 2022.

The league is considering canceling All-Star Weekend for the 2020-21 campaign, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Instead, the league would reportedly implement a two-week break at the season's midway point.

The NBA apparently proposed this change - among others - during a board of governors call Friday, where NBA officials also expressed hope for a 72-game regular season that could start as soon as Dec. 22.

If the 2021 event is canceled, it would be just the second time the exhibition isn't played midseason since its 1951 inception. It was cut from the 1998-99 calendar after a lockout forced that season to start months late.

The 2021 All-Star Game is scheduled to take place in Indianapolis. It's unclear whether the city would receive a future All-Star Game if the 2021 event isn't held. Cleveland is currently penciled in for the 2022 exhibition, while Salt Lake City is set to host the 2023 event. Philadelphia, the intended host city in 1999, instead hosted the All-Star Game three years later in 2002.

This year's festivities in Chicago drew positive reviews after the NBA changed the All-Star Game format for the first time in order to make it more competitive. The game did not end until a team reached a target point total in the fourth quarter, which was determined by adding 24 - a tribute to the late Kobe Bryant - to the leading team's score after three quarters.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox