The NBA intends to implement a round-robin tournament format, with an international twist, for the 2026 All-Star game at the Clippers’ Intuit Dome home court on Feb. 15, 2026, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. The league has been nothing if not proactive in tinkering with the format of the competition in recent years, cycling through many different approaches to engage players and fans.
Sources tell Charania that this coming season’s round-robin competition is expected to involve a trio of eight-player teams: a pair of U.S.-born rosters and one squad made up of international players. They would play 12 minutes per quarter of action in a Ryder Cup-emulating setup.
The NBPA and the league received a “positive” reaction from the Competition Committee when they discussed the proposed format change on Wednesday, Charania notes. NBA executives, owners and players were all involved in talks.
For this past February’s All-Star game, the league attempted a four-team tournament format with three All-Star clubs and a fourth “rising star” team. Judging by the ratings, fans were relatively unmoved.
Rumors have abounded since the spring that the league would embrace more of an international flavor to the All-Star game’s format. The competition will be broadcast on NBC after the league’s longtime partnership with TNT ended this past season. The NBA All-Star game will take place while NBC is in the midst of airing the 2026 Olympics in Italy.
Roughly a quarter of current players were born outside the U.S., including all of the league’s Most Valuable Player winners since James Harden in 2017/18.
NBA is the only sport with this issue out of the big 3. Baseball all star games have actually become exciting and the NFL just happens after 99% of the teams have been eliminated. It’s a weekend to showcase your top players it’s really not hard to figure out. Make the game worth something then maybe they’ll play defense.
Since when has the Pro Bowl been relevant? Tyler Huntley made the Pro Bowl
My comment was more along the lines of it happened after all but 2 teams are eliminated so it’s a complete non factor. This in season tournament and now a Red Robin tournament just takes away from the real season imo. Either way I won’t watch it but I hope you enjoy it man
NFL pro bowl is the most lame all star event. 1/2 the all stars don’t show up.
Different lipstick, same pig
This is a troubling analogy…how many pigs are you kissing?
So more games for the players that don’t even want to play all the regular season games for their own teams?
Keep it simple!
East v West. Winner gets home court for the NBA Finals. Guys will play hard for that.
Fans won’t want to see their team they’ve rooted for for 50
Years not get a gane they can go to for the finals…
Id say East vs West, fans vote on the all star MVP aftwr the game, the all star MVP gets a million dollar check, and everyone on the winning team gets 200k
Getting rid of the all star game is the only thing that will make it better
I once again submit my idea to have the fans/coaches/whoever vote after the game as to which players should be invited back for future games. If you want to keep playing in the ASG, put forth a good product that people want to see. In future seasons those players voted out could still be named All-Stars, but one of the reserves would take their place in the actual game. I think that quasi slap in the face would motivate more than a few players to put forth actual effort so as not to be embarrassed by said absence.
Why would players care about this stupid game. They are already well compensated, play a lot of games and are essentially risking injury for nothing. All star games were good when few games were televised but every game is now you care. Cancel it and no one will care at all
There’s too much money at stake for players to ever take the game seriously. No one is trying to ruin their chance at a 200 million dollar contract and owners aren’t going to let their players play like it’s game 7 of the finals.
But at the end of the day who cares? It’s an exhibition game that has no impact on the regular season. No one’s favorite team is the East or West. Even when they used to take the game seriously. I was never upset or heartbroken over who won or loss. I take it for what it is.
When is the NBA going to realize that we want a 1 on 1 tourney? Or more accurately, when is the NBA going to realize that a 1 mil prize for All-Star weekend is the only thing thats going to motivate stars to actually compete?
The HR derby has only grown in popularity since they changed the format. Something that was unthinkable for most 20 years ago. Fans want to see THEIR guy beat the other guy. It’s that simple. If you’re relying on people who just love basketball to be the audience… real ones on here understand where that’s going lmao
Nobody cares about the NBA ASG, let’s be real. And do you really think that superstars making $50-60+ mil a year nowadays will give a damn about $1 million more? Not a chance.
At this point, just name them all stars and let the players take a week off before playing again.
Wait, you’re going to have Jokic, Luka, Giannis and SGA on one side? If this isn’t just a mess around thing where Luka and the Joker just goof off they will embarrass the native born players.
As long as Silver is commissioner, no level of unwatchability or lack of fan interest will kill this event. Which is the right answer. The real “star” recognition in the NBA is now All-NBA designation, which is for a full season, not All Star selection. These games have become dated events in all sports. The NFL has mercifully dispensed with theirs. Even MLB’s version (the template for all of them) is on the clock, unless they can figure out how to play baseball without pitchers.