NBA commissioner Adam Silver admitted that the changes made to this year’s All-Star Game were a failure, and the league must keep searching for a better All-Star format.
“I thought we made almost an immeasurable amount of progress,” Silver said Thursday after an NBA board of governors meeting. “I thought this was a little better, but it was a miss. We’re not there in terms of creating an All-Star experience that we can be proud of, that our players can be proud of.”
The midseason showcase averaged 4.7 million viewers across TNT platforms, down 13% compared to last year, marking the second-least-watched NBA All-Star Game, ahead of only 2023, which drew an audience of 4.6 million.
A new format split All-Stars into four teams that competed in a three-game mini-tournament. LeBron James was a late scratch and did not take the court.
“We recalibrated around this year’s All-Star game in San Francisco, around more of an entertainment product, and I don’t think it worked,” Silver said. “The breaks were too long. And I get it: It was an opportunity to celebrate TNT, as they were gonna have their last All-Star Game. It was well-intentioned.”
Despite any silver linings, the commissioner concluded the NBA is “a bit back to the drawing board” when it comes to the future of the All-Star Game.
This isn’t the first time Silver has acknowledged problems with the All-Star format.
After record-low TV ratings in 2023, the NBA returned to its classic East-West format, which Silver hoped would lead to a more competitive matchup. “We’re sending mixed signals,” he told ESPN at the time. “And if we want guys to treat this like a real game … we have to treat it that way.”
It’s unclear what the 2026 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles will look like. But Silver said Thursday that NBC, which will broadcast the game under the league’s new $77 billion media-rights deals, is “enthusiastic” about the showcase. Next February, it will fall in the middle of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics that NBC is also broadcasting in the U.S.
Silver also said he took note of the NHL’s success around its Four Nations Faceoff, which the NBA could try to emulate in some way given its deep roster of international players. However, a USA vs. World game appears to be off the table, for now at least. “I’m not sure that makes sense, with the level of development, if that’s fair to lump all the other countries together these days,” he said.
