NBA players will be rewarded $100,000 for winning All-Star Game, per report

NBA players from the winning All-Star team will pocket a $100,000 bonus for their victory, according to ESPN’s Chris Haynes, an increase from years past and a further incentive for players to take the game seriously.

In previous years, the winning bonus was $50,000 while players on the losing All-Star team would take home just $25,000. While the losing team bonus will remain the same, the payout for the winners will double for the 2018 NBA All-Star Game.

This year, under a new format, the All-Star Game will be played between two teams picked by LeBron James and Stephen Curry. While James and Curry could only select from a pool of starters and reserves picked by the same methods used last season, the player draft and the expulsion of conferences are supposed to add intrigue.

Last year, the All-Star Game was a 192-182 win for the Western Conference.

The ESPN article quoted several players who seemed receptive to the idea that they would play harder because of the larger victor’s reward. For example, here’s Kyrie Irving, who will start for Team LeBron:

“That’ll certainly make it more interesting,” Irving told ESPN. “That’s a huge difference.”

And Stephen Curry, who added his own ideas:

“That’s significant. For some players, they just want to see [the game] being worth their time,” Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry told ESPN. “An idea I have is shortening the day. The entire game day is the biggest drag for us. Media [obligations], sponsorship appearances, [extravagant, prolonged] All-Star introductions. It’s obviously a made-for-TV event. After all that, then there’s the game. That’s a lot. But all the changes should help make the game a little better. It won’t be like [Saturday night against the Celtics], but it should be better.”

And here’s Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes, who even says incentives helped him play more seriously back in the day.

Though in fairness, that was a much different time, and it’s not like players haven’t already had a monetary incentive for winning.

We’ll see if these changes make a difference, but the NBA is at least trying to make the games more interesting.