The NBA has recently announced the new All-Star Game format. As it turns out, the idea of a format change originated from Chris Paul, who suggested it to the NBA commissioner Adam Sliver.
In an interview with K. C. Johnson of CNBC Sports, Silver told the story how the idea of a new All-Star Game format came about:
“The genesis of this latest tweak comes directly from Chris Paul, who called me last summer and said, ‘I’m a big fan of The Basketball Tournament. And are you familiar with the so-called Elam endings?’ And I said I was. I’ve watched it a few times. I said, ‘It’s fascinating to me.’ I think in some cases it’s confusing to some fans. But Chris said, ‘I think it’s terrific. I think we should look at changing the format.’ I said, ‘If that’s something you’re serious about, why don’t you talk to other members of your executive committee — he’s the president of the players association — and other players whose views you respect and I’ll talk to my colleagues at the league office and members of our competition committee. And what we heard back from everyone was it sounds really intriguing. Let’s try something new.”
