In a recent appearance on FS1’s Breakfast Ball, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made a huge announcement in regards to next season’s NBA All-Star game format. The 2025-26 All-Star game will be heading into a World vs USA format. While this is not new to All-Star weekend, as the NBA Rising Stars game utilized a similar format years prior, it will be something the actual NBA All-Star game has never done before.
When asked about the new format on Breakfast Ball, Silver explained to the crew he would be taking inspiration from the NHL All-Star Game last season, which utilized a World vs USA format as well.
“I paid a lot of attention to what the NHL did, which was a huge success.” Silver said.
One team that could be impacted by this new format is the young and talented Houston Rockets lineup, who, as of right now, boast two potential All-Stars heading into next season.
Center Alperen Sengun is coming off of his first All-Star selection in his four-year career, while second-year wing Amen Thompson was voted to the NBA All-Defensive First Team, becoming the fifth player in the team’s history to do so. These two have essentially given the Rockets two key pieces to build with going forward and also compete for a championship.
Sengun, who is a member of the Turkish national basketball team, would assume a role on the NBA World team if selected for next season’s All-Star game. This comes as no surprise since Sengun played for Giresun University’s youth system in Turkey before joining the youth teams of the Turkish club Banvit, which led to him being drafted in the first round by Houston.
As for United States-born Amen Thompson, this new format could create a conflict on where he would play, as it was recently announced Amen and his twin brother Ausar Thompson will be applying for dual citizenship so they can represent their father’s country of Jamaica for international basketball play.
The new format has also received mixed reactions around the league, the same mixed reactions that were received when Silver made his announcement in January that there could be a potential change to the All-Star game.
“Not to say we couldn’t figure out a way around this, but to the extent we want to have a fair process for picking All-Stars, if you’re picking half the players from a 30% pool and the other half from a 70% pool, it might not be fair to the players,” Adam Silver said in January
While no format has been set in stone just yet, the NBA Commissioner and board have their work cut out for themselves if a full All-Star format change is in the league’s future.
