JEDDAH: The NBA has announced a new format for the 2020 All-Star Game to raise money for charity and honor basketball star Kobe Bryant who died in a helicopter crash last week.
The changes are designed to increase the level of competition throughout the game, provide additional excitement at the finish, and make the outcome of every quarter count for charity.
A new fourth-quarter format will be introduced in memory of Los Angeles Lakers great Bryant, who earned 18 NBA All-Star selections and a joint-record four NBA All-Star Game MVP awards.
Additional plans to honor the 41-year-old player (who with his daughter Gianna was among nine people killed in the air disaster) during the upcoming All-Star Game in Chicago, will be announced at a later date.
In the 69th NBA All-Star Game both teams – captained by Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James – will compete to win each of the first three quarters, all of which will start at 0-0 and will be 12 minutes long.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the game clock will be turned off and a final target score set by taking the leading team’s total cumulative score through three quarters and adding 24 points – the 24 representing Bryant’s jersey number for the final 10 seasons of his NBA career.
The teams will then play an untimed fourth quarter and the first team to reach the final target score will win the NBA All-Star Game. For instance, if the cumulative score of the first three quarters is 100-95, the final target score would be set at 124 points. To win the NBA All-Star Game, the team with 100 points would need to score 24 points in the fourth quarter before the team with 95 points scores 29 points, and vice versa.
With no minimum or maximum time on the clock in the fourth quarter, the NBA All-Star Game will end with a made basket or a made free throw.
As part of NBA All-Star 2020, more than $1 million will be contributed to Chicago community non-profit organizations through NBA Cares outreach efforts. These will culminate during the NBA All-Star Game when each team will play for a Chicago-based charity beneficiary, as selected by Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and James of the LA Lakers.
The community organization selected by the winner of each of the first three quarters will receive $100,000 – a total of $300,000 donated to charity for those three quarters.
The winner of each of the first three quarters will be the team with the higher score at the end of the 12-minute quarter. The winning team in the NBA All-Star Game (i.e., the team that reaches the final target score first) will earn $200,000 for its community organization.
If the first or second quarter ends in a tie, the $100,000 charity award for that quarter will be added to the next quarter’s award. If the third quarter ends in a tie, the $100,000 charity award for that quarter will be added to the award of the team that wins the NBA All-Star Game.
If one team wins each of the first three quarters and reaches the final target score first, $500,000 will be donated to the winning team’s charity and $100,000 will be donated to the losing team’s charity.
The 2020 NBA All-Star Game will take place on Sunday, Feb. 16 at the United Center in Chicago and will reach fans in more than 200 countries in 40 languages.
