On Sunday, Golden State Warriors player Draymond Green expressed his opinions about the 2025 NBA All-player Game structure. The three hosts of TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith, each constructed an All-Star squad for the format. However, the Rising Stars challenge winner’s squad made up the fourth team.
Green wasn’t the biggest fan of the format and said that the youngsters didn’t deserve to play on Sunday, which was the main event of the entire weekend. The four-time champion went as far as to call the Rising Stars team “some team that no one wants to see.”
On Monday, former NBA players Chandler Parsons and Lou Williams talked about what Green said about the new format. According to the hosts of FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back,” they agree with what the Warriors star said. However, they thought it could have been delivered better.
“I think he’s right but I hated his delivery, I hated his negative approach the whole weekend. I thought it was out of line. I thought it was a little direspectful to the Rising Stars, future of the league. But he’s right,” Parsons said.
“You go to the All-Star Weekend to see the mega stars. You go to All-Star Weekend to see the guys whose kids jerseys you’re wearing… You want to see these main guys, the Steph Curry’s not the Rising Stars.
Draymond Green was right; there’s no reason for the Rising Stars to play on All-Star Weekend Sunday✅
His words could use a sugarcoat the next time he talks about the NBA’s future…but if there’s one thing about Draymond, he’s going to share exactly how he feels!😅 pic.twitter.com/tI8aQpZb2b
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) February 17, 2025
Three-time Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams chimed in.
“We can agree here. Didn’t love the delivery, especially coming from an OG like Draymond,” Williams added. “These young guys, they look up to guys like Draymond and the rest of the All-Stars. Sometimes, their words can cut those young guys. Especially, when you’re working at just as hard to feel like you’re getting somewhere in your career. But I also agree with the sentiment, they didn’t deserve to be there on a Sunday.”
Charles Barkley blames Draymond Green and his generation for the current state of the All-Star game
Draymond Green’s words about the All-Star game format reached Charles Barkley. He disagreed with Green’s take and instead blamed him and the other players of his generation as the league tries to make the weekend fun for everyone.
“I’m going to disagree with Draymond A LOT… They messed the game up!.. His generation messed the game up!… We’re doing every type of trick to make this weekend exciting,” Barkley said.
Charles Barkley: "I'm going to disagree with Draymond A LOT… They messed the game up!.. His generation messed the game up!… We're doing every type of trick to make this weekend exciting." #NBA https://t.co/v7CYFf3kFG pic.twitter.com/QiltQVt0RZ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 17, 2025
In the end, the Rising Stars team only lasted in the first round of the mini-tournament and was defeated by O’Neal’s All-Star team, “Shaq’s OGs.”
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen with Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
