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Commissioner Adam Silver made an appearance on FOX Sports’ Breakfast Ball show and confirmed the NBA will have a Team USA vs. Team World-centric format at the 2026 All-Star Weekend.
Silver indicated the Winter Olympics taking place during that time is a big incentive to pursue the format. The Summer Olympics were a tremendous success featuring plenty of competitive games, including an instant classic between USA and Serbia. The final between USA and France was also captivating, with Stephen Curry taking over down the stretch to seal the deal.
The synergy between the Winter Olympics and the All-Star Game taking on a different format stems from the NBA returning to NBC. The network will be broadcasting both events.
“Next year, as part of our new media deals, the All-Star Game returns to NBC, where it was when we were younger,” Silver said. “It so happens that next season will be smack in the middle of the Winter Olympics. The very day we’re on will be the lead-in [for the] Winter Olympic events, so what better time to feature some form of USA against the world.
“I’m not exactly sure what the format will be yet, we’ve obviously paid a lot of attention to what the NHL did.”
Timing For USA Vs. World At All-Star Could Hardly Be Better
The international stardom in the game now has never been better.
Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the league’s MVP. Serbia’s Nikola Jokic is a three-time MVP and Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo remains near the peak of his powers as a two-time MVP. France’s Victor Wembanyama is emerging as one of the faces of the league and Slovenia’s Luka Doncic is now the new face of the Los Angeles Lakers.
A Team World featuring not just them but the likes of Pascal Siakam, Jamal Murray, Domantas Sabonis and Franz Wagner could make for a fascinating contest.
It would be hard to expect the same level of intensity we saw at the 2024 Olympics but these bragging rights should be more appealing than the casual nature of the last several All-Star Games we’ve witnessed.
