The NBA will not bring back its All-Star Game mini-tournament next season
NBA will not keep All-Star mini-tournament for 2026, is ‘back to the drawing board’By TIM REYNOLDSAP Basketball WriterThe Associated PressNEW YORK
NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA will not bring back its All-Star Game mini-tournament next season.
Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday that the format used last month — a four-team tournament made up of 24 NBA All-Stars and another team of rookies and sophomores, all playing to a target score of 40 points — “was a miss.”
The game is shifting to NBC next season as part of the league’s new broadcast deal, and Silver said the league and the network are talking about what may work. The league tried something new this season with hopes of sparking some competitiveness, which the game has lacked for years.
“We’re back to the drawing board,” Silver said.
Next year’s game will be during the Milan-Cortina Olympics, so it may seem logical to play off that in some way and utilize some sort of U.S. vs. International format — which has been talked about in recent years.
The game will also be aired on NBC’s family of networks, so it will shift from a Sunday evening to a Sunday afternoon broadcast on Feb. 15, 2026, from Inglewood, California, and the new home of the Los Angeles Clippers.
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