With the first round of fan voting for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game in the books, it’s looking likely that plenty of established superstars will tack another All-Star nod onto their already glittering résumés. To me, though, the best part of the annual midseason exhibition — yes, even better than the nigh-on-constant format changes introduced to try to make everybody care about the game again! — is when we get an injection of fresh blood into the proceedings.
To be clear: I’ll never turn my nose up at getting to watch LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Co.