The Warriors have hung a championship banner at Chase Center and announced a WNBA team set to join them at their San Francisco home. In February 2025, they’ll complete the trifecta by hosting the NBA All-Star Game. The league announced the Bay Area as the host site for next season’s All-Star weekend at a Monday press conference in San Francisco featuring commissioner Adam Silver, San Francisco mayor London Breed and Warriors owner Joe Lacob.
“This will be the epicenter for basketball around the world,” Silver said of the All-Star festivities scheduled for Feb. 14-16, 2025. “Our fans from everywhere love coming to this market.
They love the excitement here. So much innovation around this game has come from people who live and work in the Bay Area. ” This will be the third time the Warriors have hosted the All-Star Game.
The first time played out well for Warriors fans: In 1967, the Cow Palace hosted the game and Warriors star Rick Barry was named the Most Valuable Player with a 38-point performance as the West won. The last time the game was played in the Bay Area was 2000, when the Warriors were mired in a dark stretch. They didn’t have a player in the game, and team owner Chris Cohan was booed off the floor.
The Warriors are a far cry from the dregs of that weekend in 2000, which did feature a mesmerizing dunk contest win by Vince Carter of the Raptors. They have had 22 All-Star Game appearances over the last decade, including nine for Stephen Curry, the MVP of the 2022 game in which he scored 50 points. Lacob said he is hopeful Curry will be selected to play in the showcase game at home.
“He gets to play for the first time in front of his home fans,” he said. “That would be one of my great wishes. ” All-Star weekend has traditionally begun Friday night with the Rising Stars game, then Saturday features the dunk and 3-point contests, as well as a skills challenge, and the game itself is played on Sunday.
Oakland will also play a role in the proceedings, as it will host the All-Star celebrity game on Friday, as well as a Saturday practice and showcase games for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the G League. “When we started talking about NBA All-Star, it was important for us to have events on both sides of the bay,” Warriors team president and COO Brandon Schneider said. Related Articles After having players draft their own teams for the last half-decade, the league plans to return to an East-vs.
-West format for the game this season, and Silver said more changes could be coming. “We’re looking at all different approaches to All-Star and this is a great market to try new things,” he said, imploring fans to “stay tuned. ” Breed said she expects the city to see an economic boost from hosting the event.
“It’s not just about the economy but the excitement,” she said, citing expectations for 135,000 people to participate in events across the three-day weekend. The weekend will kick off a significant 18-month period for the Bay Area, as Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara will host the Super Bowl in February 2026 as well as at least one game in the FIFA World Cup later that summer. LIVE: NBA All-Star 2025 Announcement — NBA (@NBA).
From: eastbaytimes
URL: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/11/06/warriors-to-host-nba-all-star-game-weekend-festivities-in-2025/