When we say you’re looking at the future of the NBA while watching the COP tournament, we’re not exaggerating.  We don’t just host future NBA players, we host the BEST future NBA players. Sunday, you’ll see 11 former COP participants in the All-Star game. We’re stoked to watch them dazzle us with what is sure to be a weekend filled with outstanding athleticism and expert displays of basketball prowess.  

And those 11 COP greats will be experiencing an All-Star game first. In an attempt to bring some excitement back to a long-standing tradition and help some charities in the process, there are new rules this year. Here’s a sample, pulled from the NBA website:

Every Quarter Counts for Charity: The All-Star teams will compete to win each quarter for Chicago-based community organizations. 

New Game Ending: The fourth quarter will be untimed and the teams will play to a Final Target Score, meaning that the game will end with a made basket or a made free throw instead of with the clock running out. The Final Target Score will be determined by taking the leading team’s total cumulative score through three quarters and adding 24 points.  Once the Final Target Score is set, the first team to reach the Final Target Score will win the NBA All-Star Game.

If the cumulative score of the first three quarters is 100-95, the Final Target Score would be set at 124 points.  In this example, here is how the teams would 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. The team with 95 points would need to score 29 points in the fourth quarter before the team with 100 points scores 24 points.

The NBA incorporated 24 points into the calculation to honor the late Kobe Bryant, who wore No. 24 for the final 10 seasons of his career. 

Each of the first three quarters will begin with the score of 0-0 and will last 12 minutes.   

Each All-Star team will play for a Chicago-based charity beneficiary, as selected by team captains Giannis Antetokonumpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Charitable donations will be awarded as follows: 

• 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 designated community organization. 

If one team wins each of the first three quarters and the NBA All-Star Game, $500,000 will be donated to the winning team’s charity and $100,000 will be donated to the losing team’s charity.

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.”