OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The NBA is working on a plan to turn next season’s All-Star Game into a U.S.-vs.-world competition, a person with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday.
It remains unclear how the format will work, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league has not made any final determinations. Speaking to Fox Sports 1 earlier Wednesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver — who has talked about such a game on multiple occasions — was asked if U.S. vs. the world is possible.
“Yes,” Silver said.
Silver addressed the idea on March 27 as well at the league’s most recent board of governors meeting, when he revealed that the NBA was scrapping the All-Star mini-tournament format that was used this season.
At that time, the AP reported that the 2026 game — to be played Feb. 15 in Inglewood, California, just past the midpoint of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics — will be moved from its traditional prime-time Sunday night slot to one that starts on Sunday afternoon. That’s happening because the game will be aired on NBC under the terms of the new 11-year media rights deals that kick in next season. NBC is also the Olympic broadcaster in the U.S.
So, NBC could show Olympic events in the morning and early afternoon, then the All-Star Game, then have prime-time Olympic programming.
The move comes on the heels of a popular tournament, the 4 Nations Face-off, that essentially took the place of the NHL All-Star Game this year, as well as strong competition at the Paris Olympics, where the Americans won a fifth consecutive gold medal by rallying past Nikola Jokic and Serbia in the semifinals, then topping host France and Victor Wembanyama in the title game — behind a barrage of late 3-pointers from Stephen Curry.
“What better time to feature some form of USA against the world?” Silver said on FS1. “I’m not exactly sure what the format will be yet. I obviously paid a lot of attention to what the NHL did, which was a huge success. … But also, going back, last summer, our Olympic competition was a huge success.”
There is one big challenge regarding any U.S.-vs.-world format. About 70% of NBA players are American, while 30% are international, so it would in theory be easier for an international player to make the All-Star team — if the rosters are the same size.
International players, when asked at this year’s All-Star Game if they would want a U.S.-vs.-world matchup, sounded enthusiastic.
“I would love to. My opinion is that it’s more purposeful,” Wembanyama said back in February. “There’s more pride in it. More stakes.”
Added Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who’s from Greece: “I would love that. Oh, I would love that. I think that would be the most interesting and most exciting format. I would love that. For sure, I’d take pride in that. I always compete, but I think that will give me a little bit more extra juice to compete.”
The latest format for the All-Star Game — a four-team, three-game mini-tournament in San Francisco with the first team to 40 points winning each — was a miss. It came after years of the league asking players for a more competitive game.
The 211-186 final score at Indianapolis in 2024 was the last straw, and the league — for one year, anyway — thought the tournament was the answer.
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