NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed the 2026 NBA All-Star Game will follow some type of USA vs. World format.
Silver appeared on FS1’s Breakfast Ball on Wednesday, when he discussed NBC’s busy winter slate next season that will include the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics, and All-Star Game. Silver said the All-Star Game—which he said will be in the afternoon instead of its usual evening spot—will be preceded and followed by Winter Olympic coverage. “What better time to feature some form of USA against the world?” he said.
Silver said details about the format aren’t locked down, but he complimented the NHL’s success in its 4 Nations Face-Off tournament this past winter and the thrilling men’s basketball semifinal and final at the Paris Olympics last summer.
The NBA tried a new All-Star format this year, splitting players up into teams for a round-robin tournament. The effort was a stab at drumming up excitement and increasing viewership for the game, which had lost some of its allure in recent years. Instead, popularity fell again with the ever-increasing score totals thanks to minimal defense and crazy three-point shots, and the biggest names leaving the skills, three-point, and dunk contests to newer players. (Mac McClung, who this year became the first player to three-peat the dunk contest, spends his seasons in the G League minus his shining moment each February.)
The game averaged 4.7 million viewers, which made it the second-least-watched NBA All-Star Game ever and 13% lower viewership than last year. Even while in the Bay Area for the weekend, ideas for next year began floating around, including an earlier start time, a one-on-one tournament, and putting more stars in the dunk contest. Giannis Antetokounmpo had voiced support for the one-on-one tournament and even suggested the international format, but in January, Silver called Team USA vs. World an “old-fashioned concept.” His tune had changed by April, when he hinted that the NBA vs. World idea was on the table, but not quite confirmed.
The NHL’s decision to spice up its All-Star format was a huge success. The tournament featured the NHL’s best from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and Finland. Geopolitical tensions and fistfights between players built anticipation for a U.S.-Canada final with all the dramatics of a Stanley Cup Game 7. More than 16 million viewers across North America tuned in.
The NBA could try to follow the NHL’s lead. In last year’s Olympics, Canada had ten current NBA players, Australia had nine, and France had five, while all but two teams competing had at least five players with NBA experience. But that would leave out some of the league’s biggest international stars, including Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić of Serbia, and Luka Dončić of Slovenia. If the NBA wanted to keep the tournament model, it could try regional or continental groups. At the start of this season, the league announced it has 125 international players from 43 countries on six continents, including 17 from Africa.
Another popular route could be a two-team format, similar to the NBA’s old model of East vs. West, or its sister league’s Team WNBA vs. Team USA. This year’s MVP Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, France’s Victor Wembanyama, and Cameroon’s Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam would all certainly constitute an All-Star squad rivaling the best American players.
“I would love that,” Antetokounmpo said at last year’s All-Star Game. “I think that would be the most interesting and most exciting format.”
