The NBA is considering changing the format of the All-Star Game to be played in San Francisco later this season, commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday night.

Silver, speaking before the Miami-Washington game in Mexico City, has wanted a more competitive All-Star event for some time. The Eastern Conference beat the Western Conference 211-186 last season. combining to get the most points in the game’s 73-year history and marking the first time a team eclipsed 200 points.

“We are looking at other formats,” Silver said without specifying what might change. “I think there’s no doubt that the players were also disappointed in last year’s All-Star Game. We all want to do a better job of providing competition and entertainment for our fans.”

Silver added that the league is considering making the All-Star Game “not a traditional game format,” but did not say what that might mean.

The league has tweaked the All-Star formula several times in recent years. Among the attempts were to eliminate the old East vs. West for a draft chosen by the team captains and go to an untimed fourth quarter with a target score to ensure the game must end with a successful shot.

Last year’s game reverted to the traditional format: four full 12-minute quarters, East versus West. And it was nothing more than an offensive showcase, with the teams combining for 168 3-point attempts and nearly 400 points.

“Obviously, it wasn’t high intensity at all,” Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton said after the game in Indianapolis, where five players scored at least 30 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 50 on 35 shots off the bench.

Silver said that with the game scheduled for Feb. 16 in San Francisco, he recruited Golden State star Stephen Curry to help find a way to make the All-Star Game more competitive this season. Any change would almost certainly have to involve the leadership of the National Basketball Players Association as well.

“It’s a home game for him,” Silver said, adding that he’s had “direct conversations” with Curry about the issue. “I know he’s very proud and wants to make sure the players do their best.”

Curry said last year that players had talked “a little bit” about making the All-Star Game more competitive in some ways. The league has wanted that for some time, hoping that a better All-Star contest will lead to better TV ratings for the game and more outside interest.

“I think everyone was disappointed with what they saw last year,” Silver said. “It wasn’t just the league. It was also the players, the players’ association. I think we all did what we thought we could, thinking particularly in Indiana, kind of the heart of basketball, we would see a more competitive game.”

Silver also noted that no one expects the All-Star Game to be anywhere near as intense as the playoffs. He said league executives Byron Spruell, Joe Dumars and Evan Wasch formed a committee to talk to representatives of the team and the players’ association to try to find a solution.

“We want to do something that will excite the fans and also the players, so it’s something they’ll be excited to play,” Silver said.

Silver said the league is not yet ready to formally move forward with expansion talks.

He has said that after the new collective bargaining agreement (done last year) and new media rights deals (done this year) were finalized, expansion would be the next big project to tackle. It remains that way, but nothing is imminent.

“We’re continuing to model, to understand the economics of what it would mean to have additional equipment,” Silver said. “As I’ve noted many times, it’s essentially about selling shares in the league.”

Las Vegas and Seattle have long been mentioned as possibilities, and Mexico City would likely be a serious candidate for the NBA to consider at some point. There will be other cities with interest when the time comes, and Silver said he can imagine, if that happens, the league adding two franchises in this round of expansion to bring the league to 32 clubs.

“Nothing has been set and we haven’t even determined whether to expand yet,” Silver said. “My feeling is that if we expanded, we would get to an even number, because then maybe we would have to make some adjustments in the conferences. But I think it makes sense to have two 16-team conferences if we had to. There have been times in the past in the NBA where we had an odd number, so it’s possible. But I think the most likely thing is that if we were to expand, we would look to expand to two cities.”

Silver said fans can expect another Stephen Curry vs. type event Sabrina Ionescu in this season’s All-Star Game. That’s not a surprise; Curry and Ionescu said they wanted to do it again after their debut matchup last season, and talk instantly turned to adding more shooters, with Caitlin Clark mentioned as a possibility.

“When you look at the interest in terms of viewership last year, one of the highlights was Sabrina-Steph skyrocketing,” Silver said. “So we want to do more of that.”

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