The NBA is continuing to tinker with the NBA All-Star Game, and it has overhauled it once more for this season.
On Wednesday, the league announced a new US vs. World format for this season’s NBA All-Star Game, to be held in February at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. This new format will feature three eight-man rosters—two composed of American players and the other made up of foreign hoopers—that will play against each other once in a 12-minute game.
The top two teams will play in the championship, which will also run for 12 minutes. In case all three teams have 1-1 records, the two with the best point differentials will advance to the championship game.
NBA All-Star Game Voting Stays—But With a Twist
This season’s All-Stars, as always, will be decided by a combination of fan, media, and player voting for the starters and the coaches picking the reserves. Only this time, the top vote-getters of each conference regardless of position will automatically be the starters—a stark departure from past years when two backcourt players and three frontcourt players were chosen. So, if the top vote-getters in the West are, for instance, Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokić, Lauri Markkanen, Alperen Şengün, and LeBron James, then they will be the starters even if they’re all frontcourt players.
The league also announced that if the players who make the All-Star cut do not evenly split into 16 American and 8 international players, Commissioner Adam Silver will add more players to meet the required number for either side. For example, if the split is 14 Americans and 10 international players, Silver will handpick two more Americans to complete the 16 needed for two eight-man lineups. Similarly, if the split is 18 Americans and 6 international players, Silver will choose two more players for the latter.
Dual-Purpose Change
The format overhaul of the NBA All-Star Game is actually dual-purpose. One, it’s in response to fan clamor to improve the games and suggestions to adopt a US vs. World-type competition. Two, the change should tie in seamlessly with NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympic Games, which will also take place in February.
