SAN FRANCISCO >> They’re still using the term “All-Star Game” when the NBA’s annual midseason event comes to Chase Center this weekend.

Yet it’s not a game in the truest sense, and hasn’t been for a long time, having evolved into a showcase — a chance to sell merchandise with a glitzy celebration of the sport that has nothing to do with winning and losing. Unfortunate, because striving to win has always been the point.

Stephen Curry of the Warriors is sitting out the 3-point shooting contest with a sore thumb, but his handprints are everywhere. His business collective “Thirty Ink” will include “Club Thirty,” a 30,000-foot interactive venue that will celebrate his own legacy as well as various business interests with an eye on “ushering fans into the future of sports culture.” On social media, he cryptically teased an announcement set for Saturday and on a podcast appearance, he told columnist Tim Kawakami that he advised commissioner Adam Silver to change the game’s format.

The All-Star Game will boost tourism and foot traffic in the Bay Area. Make money for hotels. Generate tax revenue. Bay Area Host Committee reported in June it expected a $1.4 billion boost when combined with Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium and FIFA men’s World Cup games in 2026, though economic impact studies dispute whether that money remains in the host region.

The San Francisco Business Times reports an expected 135,000 visitors to the city for the All-Star Game and a $350 million economic and media impact, the biggest boost since the pandemic.

Yet the NBA event, unlike the Super Bowl and the World Cup, has nothing to do with the old Wide World of Sports intro promoting the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”

The NBA isn’t alone. The just-completed NFL Pro Bowl wised up and doesn’t even bother with an alleged game anymore. Major League Baseball has the most legitimate event from a competition standpoint given that any game can be broken down to pitcher vs. catcher. But that’s not to say those involved really care one way or another whether they win or lose.

MLB for a time tried to tie its All-Star Game to World Series home-field advantage after the 2002 edition was declared a tie because pitching had been expended. Back in the day, my father secured tickets through relatives for the 1967 All-Star Game in Anaheim. The American League ran out of pitching so a kid named Catfish Hunter of the Kansas City Athletics pitched 5 1/3 innings before giving up a home run to Tony Perez in the 15th inning.

Another no-name who would make the Hall of Fame, Tom Seaver of the New York Mets, finished the game for the National League.

Now All-Star Games will be determined by a home run derby if tied through nine innings.

The NHL won’t even hold an All-Star Game this year, instead opting for a “Four Nations Face-Off” tournament as a preview to the Olympics in 2026.

Gone are the days in the NBA when the West, led by Rick Barry and Nate Thurmond at the Cow Palace in 1967, snapped a four-game losing streak with an upset of an East team in a game so intense, coach Red Auerbach of the Celtics was ejected.

Or when Tampa Bay safety John Lynch in the Pro Bowl forced Eddie George’s fumble with a big hit in 1998 or when the late Sean Taylor of Washington flattened Brian Moorman in 2007.

Maximum effort has given way to “just happy to be there” and there’s no going back.

Despite all the dollars, the NBA All-Star Game is declining in terms of viewership. Last year’s game drew 5.5 million viewers according to the statistics portal Statista. That was up from 4.6 million the previous year, but a far cry from 10.8 million that watched in 2003.

You could make the argument that 2003 was one of the NBA’s last legitimately competitive games. The West beat the East 155-145, but the scores got that high only because it took two overtimes to finish with the game tied 120-120 at the end of regulation.

The West had a 24-year-old Kobe Bryant, who always took competition seriously, as well as Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett, to whom basketball was a nightly battle of manhood. Garnett scored 37, Bryant 22 for the winners. Allen Iverson, another take-no-prisoners competitor, had 35 for the East.

Yet the NBA All-Star Game probably began a slow decline as early as 1976, when it was upstaged by the first slam dunk contest won by Julius Erving in the ABA All-Star Game in Denver the year before the two leagues merged.

The 3-point shooting contest began in 1986, and with some of the biggest names declining to participate in dunk contests, long-distance shooting may be the best part of the weekend. Why? Because it’s pure competition. The ball goes in or it doesn’t. There are no gray areas, showboating is at a minimum, no need for style points.

For as much money as All-Star Games generate, the players have other concerns. The average NBA salary was $11.9 million last year, and it’s higher for All-Star players. It makes it harder to justify going all out and risking injury with that kind of money at stake compared to what is paid out for the regular season.

Injury risk is why the NFL has basically tanked the notion of All-Star Games and replaced it with skill competitions and the like, with All-Stars basically having a good time generating publicity for their sport.

That’s the thing about All-Star Games. Everybody wants to be named, but few people really want to play.

In 2022, Curry scored 50 points and hit 16 3-pointers, and the opposition was only too happy to let him fire at will. After last season’s ludicrous 211-186 win by the NBA’s East in Indianapolis, where the West’s Karl Anthony-Towns scored 50 points in 28 minutes, the NBA tinkered with the format for the Chase Center event.

This year, instead of a single game, the 24 players are divided into three teams with a “mini-tournament” format with broadcast analysts Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley selecting eight players each as “general managers.” First team to 40 points wins.

An earlier four-team “Rising Stars” tournament will determine the fourth team for Sunday night’s tournament of All-Star teams. The hope is the shorter games, as well as one young team among the final four, will make for a more competitive atmosphere as opposed to half-effort 3-point binge shooting, low-difficulty lob pass and dunk attempts and a general disinterest in playing defense.

A prize pool of $1.8 million divided amongst the teams won’t hurt either, with players on the winning team getting $125,000 and $50,000 for second place.

Will it work? It’s kind of like the Warriors trading for Jimmy Butler. The status quo wasn’t functional, so it’s worth a shot.