2022 NBA All-Star Game: Start time, players, how to watch and stream

The NBA’s All-Star weekend concludes Sunday night with the 71st annual All-Star Game, with tip-off scheduled for just after 8 p.m. in Cleveland.

For the third straight year, the All-Star Game will feature a few different rules, which includes an untimed fourth quarter know as the “Elam Ending.” Teams led by All-Star team captains Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets (who won’t play due to a sprained MCL in his left knee) and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers will race to be the first to reach a “final target score,” determined by taking the leading team’s cumulative score through three quarters and adding 24 points (a nod to the late Kobe Bryant).

Sixers star Joel Embiid, who has been dominant in recent weeks and is coming off yet another 40-point game, will take the court in his fifth All-Star game alongside Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum, Andrew Wiggins, and Trae Young. Embiid’s newest teammate, 10-time All-Star James Harden, won’t play tonight as he continues to rehab his left hamstring (though former NBA star James McGrady doubts Harden is injured at all).

At least Embiid will see the court tonight. Last year, both he and former teammate Ben Simmons were forced out of the All-Star game after coming in contact with a barber in Philadelphia who tested positive for COVID-19. Simmons, who sat out all year before being traded to the Nets, wasn’t selected as an All-Star for the first time since his first year as a starter (though he did receive two All-Star votes from NBA players).

Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream this year’s NBA All-Star game:

The 2022 NBA All-Star Game is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and will air live on TNT from the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The All-Star Game will stream live on TNT’s website, though it’s only available there for cable subscribers. It will also stream live on NBA League Pass, though the subscription service is hardly worth it for Sixers fans in the Philadelphia market due to its blackout rules.

The game can also be streamed on a host of services, including Hulu With Live TV, DirecTV Stream, Sling TV, or YouTube TV. But if you happen to be a FuboTV subscriber, you’re out of luck — despite being a sports-focused cord-cutting option, the streaming service lost TNT and TBS back in 2020 and hasn’t yet agreed to a new carriage deal with WarnerMedia.

Calling his first All-Star Game for TNT is longtime play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan, who is taking the reins following the retirement of legendary basketball voice Marv Albert. Former NBA stars turned broadcasters Reggie Miller and Dwayne Wade will offer analysis, while Allie LaForce will offer reports from the court.

» READ MORE: 25 years ago, Allen Iverson was booed in Cleveland. He didn’t let it change him.

Charles Barkley was originally slated to call tonight’s All-Star Game on TNT alongside Harlan and Miller. Instead, he and his Inside the NBA colleagues Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith will headline an alternative broadcast of the game on TBS in the style of ESPN’s popular Manningcast.

“We have zero idea what the hell we are doing Sunday, to be honest with you,” Barkley said during a conference call earlier in the week. “We’re just going to go on TV and have fun like we normally do.”

Joining the crew will be Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green, who is missing his fourth All-Star game due to a back injury. The broadcast will also feature a number of mic’d up players, including Stephen Curry, Donovan Mitchell, and Ja Morant.

Barkley and company will also host the NBA Tip-off pregame show beginning at 7 p.m. and a special edition of Inside the NBA following the game. True to form, the former Sixers star wasn’t too thrilled about the extra workload.

“We’re kind of like Peyton and Eli without getting paid,” Barkley joked. “This is some [expletive] they added in the last couple of weeks.”

» READ MORE: Charley Barkley plans to retire after TNT contract expires: ‘I don’t want to die on TV’

In 2020, the NBA made two main rules changes that made the often-mocked exhibition game a lot more interesting:

1. Every quarter counts: Each quarter will start tied 0-0, and the team with the highest score after each 12-minute quarter will donate $100,000 to its designated Chicago-based charity. If the first or second quarter ends in a tie, the prize will be added to the next quarter’s pot. If the third quarter ends in a tie, the prize money goes to the team that wins the game.

At the end of each of the first three quarters, the team with the lead will earn $150,000 to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities through either the Thurgood Marshall College Fund or the United Negro College Fund. The game’s winning team will earn an additional $300,000.

2. Untimed fourth quarter: The game clock will be turned off at the start of the fourth quarter, and the two teams will race to be the first to reach a “final target score” determined by adding 24 points to the leading team’s cumulative score through the first three quarters.

Confused? Here’s an example: If the leading team has scored a cumulative total of 100 points after three quarters, the “final target score” needed to win would be 124 points (100 + 24). In that example, the first team to score a cumulative total of 124 points would win the game.

The new fourth quarter scoring led to a thrilling finish in 2020, but didn’t matter much during last year’s blowout (though it did keep the game moving at a nice pace).

» READ MORE: Sixers hope Tyrese Maxey's Rising Stars appearance is only the start of his star turn

Though Harden was selected by James for Team LeBron (drawing laughs on TNT’s All-Star draft for the obvious awkwardness over his departure from Brooklyn), he won’t take the court tonight as he continues to rehab his left hamstring. His first game with the Sixers could be Friday night’s matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team’s first game after the All-Star break.

Replacing Harden on the court tonight will be Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen, who is making his first All-Star appearance. In his fifth season, Allen is averaging a career high 16.2 points and 11.1 rebounds per game for the surprising Cavaliers.

Despite not playing, Harden has worked hard to integrate himself with his new team. As my colleague Keith Pompey reported, Harden traveled with the team Thursday night during their win against the Milwaukee Bucks and has been offering teammates pointers during both practice and from the bench. He also initiated a card game during the team’s flight on Wednesday.

“He just thought the more time with the guys, the more time on the floor [would be beneficial],” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said of Harden accompanying the team. “All that stuff is good.”

» READ MORE: For the Sixers, a welcomed All-Star break also comes with a dash of anticipation for James Harden’s debut