The NBA All-Star Game has drawn ample criticism in recent years. But this season it’ll be impossible to complain about the same old format.
The NBA is introducing an entirely new one: U.S. vs. The World.
Two teams of U.S. players and a team of international players will compete in a round-robin tournament in four 12-minute games, all to be held on the final day of All-Star Weekend — Sunday, Feb. 15 — the NBA announced Tuesday, Nov. 11.
Whether the format will solve the listless play and almost non-existent defense that has come to define the NBA All-Star Game that will be played this season for the 75th time remains to be seen. But the league will unveil something entirely different when the 2026 All-Star Game is held at the Intuit Dome, the home arena of the Los Angeles Clippers in Inglewood, California.
How will round-robin tournament work?
This won’t be as straightforward as the old days.
All round-robin games will be played on Sunday, Feb. 15, and here’s how the tournament works:
Team A will play Team B in Game 1.
The winning team from Game 1 will play Team C in Game 2.
The losing team from Game 1 will play Team C in Game 3.
So it’s as easy as ABC, 123. Mostly.
After Game 3, the top two teams by record will play each other in the championship game. But, if all three teams have a 1-1 record after Game 3, the point differential in each team’s two round-robin games will serve as the tiebreaker.
How will the All-Star voting work?
There’s less to learn about this process.
As in the past, there will be 24 NBA All-Stars — 12 from the Western Conference and 12 from the Eastern Conference. The five starters will be selected by fans (50% of the vote), current NBA players (25%) and a media panel (25%). The seven reserves will be selected by NBA head coaches.
Here’s what’s new: The All-Stars will be picked without regard for position.
How players will be assigned to the two U.S. teams has not yet been determined, according to the league.
The two U.S. teams and what will be known as the World Team will have a minimum of eight players. If the All-Star voting produces fewer than 16 U.S. players or fewer than eight international players to meet the minimum requirement of eight players per team, NBA commissioner Adam Silver will pick additional All-Stars.