NBA All-Star Game 2026 Format Reportedly Revealed Featuring USA, World Teams

The NBA All-Star Game is taking on a new format this season.

Per ESPN's Shams Charania, the game is "likely" going to be a round-robin style tournament featuring three eight-player squads. Two of those teams would be made up of players from the United States, while the other would be a world team.

Under the new format, the two USA squads and one World team would face one another in 12-minute per quarter, Ryder Cup-style games. The Ryder Cup, a golf event pitting players from the United States against players from Europe, takes place over the course of three days. It's unclear if the new All-Star format would be more or fewer than three days.

According to Charania, the NBA and the players' union presented the new format to the Competition Committee on Wednesday, and it received a positive response.

Charania noted that this year's All-Star game, which will be held on Feb. 15 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, will shift to a Sunday afternoon start rather than the typical Sunday evening start time.

Last season, the NHL hosted the 4 Nations Face-Off, an event featuring teams of players from the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden, during its All-Star break. The tournament culminated with a final between the United States and Canada that drew 10.1 million viewers.

When NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed that the All-Star Game would feature United States and World teams, he noted the NHL's success with the 4 Nations Face-Off.

"I'm not exactly sure what the format will be yet," he said. "I paid a lot of attention to what the NHL did, which was a huge success."

With recent NBA All-Star games getting a little less competitive, a USA vs. World format could liven things up.