Bill Simmons presents his convoluted idea to fix NBA All-Star Game

There’s no question that Bill Simmons wants what’s best for the NBA.

But when it comes to The Ringer founder’s pitch for saving the league’s All-Star Game, his bid for becoming America’s sports czar took a hit.

On the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, the show’s host discussed the disastrous nature of this past weekend’s All-Star festivities in San Francisco. And while Simmons’ guest, Van Lathan, seemed to be of the opinion that the event is beyond saving, the Sports Guy did his best to pitch a solution.

Simmons’ idea: split the NBA All-Star Game into two separate games on Saturday and Sunday night, with the Dunk Contest and Three-Point Contest serving as pregame programming for each respective night. The big twist? The Sunday game would only be comprised of players from the top-five seeds in the Eastern and Western Conferences playing against each other for the right to home court advantage in the NBA Finals, with the remaining All-Stars facing the Rising Stars on Saturday night.

There are other quirks too, such as FIBA rules, eight-man rosters including one “commissioner’s pick” from a non-top-five seed being included on each Sunday team, $250,000 payouts and players who opt out of the game — a la LeBron James — being ineligible to participate the following year. But the overarching theme of Simmons’ pitch is to make Sunday’s game more than just an exhibition with real stakes in the form of homecourt advantage in the NBA Finals.

“Let’s put real pressure on these dudes,” the ex-ESPN columnist said. “It’s like, this is an honor and a privilege to be in this game.”

How can the NBA fix All-Star Weekend?@BillSimmons outlines his idea. pic.twitter.com/RJxkX9yQVz

— The Ringer (@ringer) February 18, 2025

Give Bill Simmons this much: he’s clearly put a lot of thought into this and it’s something he obviously cares about. Rather than writing the All-Star Game experience off as a lost cause — which would be a viable stance at this point — he’s at least doing what he’s can to offer a solution.

Whether or not it’s a viable one is a different story.

Aside from the potential logistical concerns of determining limited rosters based on standings — would there be a deadline for when the rosters are selected? Either answer has its pros and cons — it’s fair to wonder how much homecourt advantage in the NBA Finals actually matters to the players involved. At this point, the NBA has a hard enough time motivating its players to care about the regular season. Would a one-game exhibition in which most of the players involved won’t ultimately be rewarded by the outcome really get the top players on the top teams to care?

It’s also worth noting that baseball dangled homefield advantage in the World Series as a prize in its All-Star Game from 2003-2016. That, however, didn’t result in games that were seemingly any more or any less competitive than the All-Star Games that came before or after the stipulation. And it was removed, in part, because it was silly to have an exhibition play any sort of role in the outcome of who wins the league’s championship.

While Bill Simmons did his best to address this concern by only including players from contending teams, he might be too idealistic in thinking they’d be as invested in securing homecourt advantage in the NBA Finals as he would be. Ultimately, the answer to “what can make players care enough to be invested in the All-Star Game?” is currently unclear. And it’s not out of the realm of possibility that’s because there isn’t one that exists.