NBA All-Star game will no longer feature East vs West

The NBA All-Star Game will no longer pit the best players from the Eastern Conference against the top stars of the Western Conference. The annual exhibition game is switching formats this season, as two captains will select the squads without consideration to which conferences the players represent.

The league announced on Tuesday that the two players who receive the most All-Star fan votes will captain the two teams and put together their respective squads. Last year, LeBron James and Stephen Curry, arguably the two most popular players in the league, received the most votes.

The revamped format will no longer give fans the ultimate say on the starting line-ups. Votes from fans (50 percent), the players and media (25 percent each) will be tallied before the two respective captains are announced.

Houston Rockets star Chris Paul, who serves as the president of the NBA Players' Association, was instrumental in the changes to the format. “I’m thrilled with what the players and the league have done to improve the All-Star Game, which has been a priority for all of us. We’re looking forward to putting on an entertaining show in L.A," Paul said via press release.

2018 NBA All-Star Game: Coaches will still select reserves

The league confirmed that head coaches from the two most successful teams (in opposing conferences) will still select the 14 reserves -- two guards, three front court players and two players at any position in their respective conferences. Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors) and Brad Stevens (Boston Celtics) coached the two All-Star teams during the 2017 edition of the exhibition affair.

The release added: "The process for determining the 2018 All-Star Game head coaches is unchanged. The head coaches whose teams clinch the best record in their respective conferences two weeks before the All-Star Game will earn the nod, though the Golden State Warriors’ Steve Kerr and the Boston Celtics’ Brad Stevens are ineligible for the honour because they coached in the 2017 All-Star Game. Each All-Star Game coach will lead the team that includes the captain from the same conference."

The 2018 NBA All-Star game will be staged at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 18. The starters and captains for the two teams will be announced via a TNT broadcast on Thursday, Jan. 18. The captains will then unveil their reserves on Tuesday, Jan. 23. Fans can begin to cast their votes starting Monday, Dec. 25.