The NBA All-Star game is changing once again.
The league has tinkered with different formats throughout the past few years, trying to inject excitement into a game that has lost its luster. Their latest change is the most dramatic. This year’s game will feature a theme of America versus the World. The hope is that it adding an element of national pride will lead to more competitive play.
Here’s what’s new in 2026.
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NBA All-Star Game format, explained
This year’s game will feature a round robin tournament between two American teams and one World team. Each team will consist of at least eight players. Participants from both the Eastern and Western conference will be mixed among all three teams.
In the event that the 24 All-Stars are not divided evenly between 16 Americans and eight international players, commissioner Adam Silver will select players to the game until each team can field at least eight players. That may result in some teams that have more players than others.
There will be four games in total played, with each game lasting 12 minutes. In the round-robin tournament, Team A will play Team B in Game 1. The winning team from Game 1 will take on Team C in Game 2, followed by the losing team of Game 1 meeting Team C in Game 3.
After Game 3, the top two teams by record will advance to face each other in the championship game (Game 4). If all three teams have a 1-1 record after Game 3, the tiebreaker would be point differential in each team’s two round-robin games.
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NBA All-Star Game 2026 rosters
The reserves will be announced on Sunday, Feb. 1.
The starters, who will be divided up among the three teams (two American, one World), have been announced and are as follows:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Jalen Brunson
- Cade Cunningham
- Tyrese Maxey
- Jaylen Brown
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- Nikola Jokic
- Luka Doncic
- Victor Wembanyama
- Stephen Curry
NBA All-Star Schedule 2026
All-Star Weekend will take place from Friday, Feb. 13 to Sunday, Feb. 15. The event will be hosted at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, home of the Clippers. The schedule is as follows:
Friday, Feb. 13
- NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
- NBA Rising Stars Game, 9 p.m. ET (Peacock)
- NBA HBCU Classic (Hampton University vs. North Carolina A&T State University), 11 p.m. ET (Peacock)
Saturday, Feb. 15
- NBA All-Star Saturday Night, 5 p.m. ET (NBC & Peacock)
Sunday, Feb. 16
- NBA All-Star Game, 5 p.m. ET (NBC & Peacock)
