The Big Question Going Into Nba All-star Weekend: Will The New Format Work? There Is Some Skepticism

Red Auerbach once got ejected from an All-Star Game for arguing a call. Rick Barry and Bob Cousy each fouled out of All-Star Games twice, the only players who can say that. Dwyane Wade was whistled for the first flagrant All-Star foul after breaking Kobe Bryant's nose.

As the story goes, Wade called Bryant not long after that 2012 game and attempted to apologize. Turned out, there was no need. Wade's recollection of what Bryant said? "Bro, I love it," Wade said in a conversation with Kevin Garnett, a clip that has been a social media standard ever since.

The NBA doesn't want coaches to get kicked out, anyone to get into foul trouble or anyone getting hurt. But they've asked, begged and pleaded for years with players in an effort that the All-Star Game get taken more seriously. And the latest solution is a radical one: a mini-tournament.

Welcome to an All-Star format like none other: three games, no clock, first team to 40 points wins, eight-man rosters, and there's a reasonable chance that the team leaving San Francisco on Sunday as winners will have captured that title without having a single All-Star on its roster.

"We went back to the drawing board," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.