Yet again, the NBA has unveiled a new formula for the annual NBA All-Star Game in its 75th year. This time around, they may have come up with a format that could stick. With a sports fan base that has proven volatile, the NBA has tinkered with ideas to maintain its second-place standing in sports popularity.

Football consistently ranks #1, with 36-41% of adults calling it their favorite sport. Basketball comes in at #2 with 11-22% of fans. Soccer has moved up to the number three spot at 10%. With baseball in a close fourth place. Hockey comes in fifth at 3-4%.

Basketball and baseball have tweaked their all-star exhibitions, while football has devolved its game into flag football. The NBA has changed its format significantly five times over the years with the intention of making the game more competitive.

From 1951-2017, it was the traditional Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference. From 2018 - 2023, they went to two captains’ (top vote-getters) drafting teams and intermingled conferences. In 2020-2023, they went to what was called the “Elam Ending”, a targeted score in the 4th quarter. In 2024, they returned to the East vs. West format.

2025 debuted a four-team mini-tournament featuring three teams of All-Stars and one Rising Stars team. In an effort to increase competitiveness, the recent formats have had low engagement, leading to the 2026 format over the last weekend.

The 2026 format consisted of a round-robin tournament featuring three teams: USA Stars, USA Stripes, and the World team, composed of international players. Taking a page from the Olympics playbook, splitting the teams by birthplace helped give the game a more global presence.

The star-studded World roster included the likes of the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, the Lakers’ Luka Doncic, and the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama. The USA roster was split into two teams and included Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, LeBron James of the Lakers, Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets, and Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In the four quarters of the round-robin, the Stars beat World 37-35 in the first game, the Stripes beat the Stars 21-40 in the second frame, and World beat the Stripes in the third game. In the Championship round, it was the Stars over the Stripes, 47-21.

Anthony Edwards was named MVP. Playing in his 22nd All-Star Game, LeBron James praised Edwards for his play. “Love Ant Man,” James said after the game. “Everything about him. On the court, off the court. Happy for him. First of many All-Star MVPs for him. I love Ant. He got a fan in me and a friend in me for life.”

Edwards was named the Kobe Bryant MVP Award after scoring 32 combined points in three of the four games. The game was played at the brand new Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers. It was the first All-Star MVP for Edwards, who called out Victor Wembanyama for elevating his game.

“I ain’t gonna lie. Wemby set the tone. He came out playing hard. It’s hard not to match that,” the Wolves star said after securing the win for Team Stars. Wemby set the tone,” Edwards stated again while holding his newest piece of hardware. “He came out playing hard. We had to follow that. We had to pick it up as the red team, and we did that.”

After several years of disappointing All-Star games, the new format was widely seen as a success. Meanwhile, tinkering with the regular season to garner success has not been met with the same enthusiasm. The Emirates Cup is an in-season tournament that started in the 2023-24 season and has continued for the 2025-26 season. Time will tell if the NBA keeps changing the game.

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