The NBA is, again, switching its format for the All-Star game.
The league announced a new format on Tuesday night for the 2026 edition of the game this season at the Intuit Dome in Southern California. The All-Star game will feature three teams, two made up of players from the United States and a third with players from the rest of the world. There will be a round-robin tournament first with 12-minute games, and then the top two teams will advance to the championship game.
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There will be 24 players selected for the All-Star game, 12 from each conference, and they will be selected without regard to position.
The NBA All-Star game is set for Feb. 15.
NBA alters All-Star Game format again amid criticism
The NBA has struggled to find a version of the All-Star game that works in recent years.
After rising criticism over the lack of a competitive and entertaining game, the NBA tried to run a mini-tournament last season for the first time. It didn’t go over well. Three of those teams were made up of NBA All-Stars, and the fourth was the winner of the Rising Stars tournament — which was made up of first- and second-year players.
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Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green laid into the format on TNT, and he was far from alone.
«I had to work so hard to play on Sunday night of All-Star weekend,» Green said last year. «And because ratings are down, because the game’s bad, we’re bringing in Rising Stars? That’s not a fix.
«I never played in the Rising Stars game. My first two years, I didn’t touch that game. And these guys get to touch the All-Star floor? On Sunday night?»
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Pretty quickly, though, the idea of a USA-vs.-World matchup started gaining steam among the league’s top players for the 2026 game. Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama were all in on it — especially in the wake of the Paris Olympics last summer. Team USA narrowly beat France to win the gold medal.
While the NBA appeared to actually listen and is going with a USA-World style, it’s sticking with the mini tournament vibe that it tried to start a year ago. But only time will tell whether this tweak is going to be enough to fix the All-Star game and please both the players involved and fans watching from home.
