NBA All-Star Format Potentially Changing For the Better In 2025-26 Season

The NBA All-Star Format might be changing for the better as soon as next year. On Monday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Byron Spurell, the NBA’s president of league operations, both acknowledged that the league is having discussions with the NBA Players Association and broadcast partner NBC about the replacement of the current All-Star Game format. 

The new format would be an international competition which would start next season if passed by the NBAPA. This is some refreshing news because the NBA All-Star Game Itself has been HORRIBLE THESE LAST FEW YEARS! So with all of the preliminaries out of the way, here’s why I think the NBA is considering making this switch in its All-Star Game format. 

The NHL’s NEW 4 Nations Format Worked and the NBA Is Trying To Capitalize On It

The NHL changed its All-Star Game to the 4 Nations Face-off this year, and it was a success not only ratings-wise, but the quality of the games that were being played was great and exciting. That should be expected from an event like that and the NBA is appearing to be taking notes from this event and trying to make the change for themselves. 

This past NBA All-Star Weekend in Golden State was a horrendous weekend for the league as the game itself once again became a glorified layup line and exhibition with no intensity. The Target Score aspect in the fourth quarter worked for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game because of the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, as the players wanted to have a competitive All-Star game in his honor. But in the other years since it was first implemented in 2020, it has not turned into what we thought it was going to be for us fans. The games have been less intense each year.

This idea has been floated around for years in the NBA that they should go USA vs International for the All-Star Game, but they didn’t see it working for various reasons. With the success of the 4 Nations Face Off, the NBA has to consider it and this is a sign that they are considering the US vs the International players type of format. 

Final Thoughts

The NBA All-Star format has been a great debate for years, as the product has failed to captivate audiences over the last few years, especially when you look at this year’s event in February. So I am glad that Silver and his team are finally deciding on an international type of All-Star format. Hopefully, this passes with the NBAPA and NBC soon, and we get the US vs International All-Star Game in 2026 on NBC. Total Apex Sports has more great NBA topics like this one on the site, along with other great stories on the NFL, MLB, NHL, etc.