But this year, the NBA had decided to split the All-Star Game prize money into two parts.
One part would be awarded based on the players' scoring.
Every player who took the court would earn $10,000 for each point they scored.
The more points they scored, the more prize money they would receive.
By that calculation, if each team scored 150 points, the league would have to shell out $3 million in prize money.
The other part would go to the winners. Only the winning team would receive it.
Each player on the winning team would get an additional $200,000.
So if you scored 20 points and helped your team win, you could take home $400,000.
Although these stars were all players who earned over $40 million a year,
$400,000 might not seem like much.
But in reality, most NBA players received their salaries monthly.
On average, they made a little over $3 million a month.
After federal taxes, state taxes, and all sorts of other expenses, they might actually take home just over $1.5 million.
Now they had the chance to earn an extra $400,000. Even after taxes, they'd still pocket $200,000.
That was sure to motivate them.
Many fans were looking forward to it.
In past years, players often just went through the motions after taking the court in the NBA All-Star Game.
Especially the superstars: they'd play for a few minutes, toss up a few shots, and call it a day.
Fans found that incredibly frustrating.
They felt that the current All-Star Game was nowhere near as entertaining as it had been twenty or thirty years ago.
With this year's changes, though, they believed the All-Star Game would surely improve.
The Eastern All-Stars featured Antetokounmpo, Artificial Giant Antoine, Noah, Tatum, and Big Head Brunson, among others.
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