We already knew next February’s NBA All-Star Game — broadcast on NBC and Peacock — was going to be a USA vs. World format, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed it.
Now we have a few more details. The NBA’s Competition Committee was presented with the idea of three 8-man teams — two USA, one World team — playing in a round-robin format, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. These would be 12-minute games, three of them, with the undefeated team (if there is one) taking the title. The idea was presented by the NBA and the players’ union to the committee (made of owners, GMs and players) and received positive feedback, according to the report.
A few quick thoughts on this:
• The USA vs. World format fits perfectly on NBC and Peacock in 2026 because the NBA All-Star Game falls in the middle of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. While Silver was vague on details, this is expected to be a Ryder Cup-style format, featuring the USA vs. the World.
• The 2026 NBA All-Star Game in Southern California (at the Clippers’ new Intuit Dome) will be played in the afternoon Pacific time, allowing for a Winter Olympic lead-in and more Olympic content on NBC and Peacock after the NBA exhibition.
• Making it a three-team round robin eliminates the need for a fourth team to fill out a bracket-style tournament, as was done last year in San Francisco. The fourth team in that tournament was the winner of the Rising Stars game (rookies and sophomores) and those youngsters getting on the Sunday All-Star stage was not popular with veteran players and other All-Stars who were voted onto the team by fans or selected by coaches for their play.
• An eight-man World Team roster would be stacked — the last seven MVP winners were international players. The world team could be an eight-man roster of Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Wembanyama, Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Jamal Murray — and that doesn’t include Franz Wagner, Lauri Markkanen, Kristaps Porzingis, Alperen Sengun and Rudy Gobert.
• When asked about a potential USA vs. World format at last February’s All-Star weekend, international players were far more enthusiastic than the Americans.
“I would love that. Oh, I would love that,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think that would be the most interesting and most exciting format. I would love that. For sure, I’d take pride in that.”
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