OT: 2026 NBA All-Star Game to be USA vs World

[CPT]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2026-nba-all-star-game-to-feature-usa-vs-the-world-says-adam-silver/

It’s been rumoured for a while, but it looks like Silver has confirmed the next ASG will be Team USA vs Team World. Hopefully this is the shake up the game needs to get people playing at even regular season intensity.

Teams should be interesting. I think Team World crushes.

In a strange way, does this increase the chances of a Raptor making the ASG? Barnes and Ingram probably weren’t going to make it anyway, but now the chances might be even lower. It doesn’t seem completely out of the question that RJ would make it though?

Otherwise, how many Canadians on the roster? Over/under 2.5, what are you taking?

[MoneyBall]

The top 4 players in the world are all international. This is a sick lineup:

PG - SGA
SG - ???
SF- Doncic
PF - Giannis
C - Jokic

Edit: maybe have Wemby play PF? Either way, international team has a better top 5. USA has more depth, though.

[OakleyDokely]

next year, I'd do 7ft players vs under 7fters

format doesn't matter if the players don't care

[CPT]

next year, I'd do 7ft players vs under 7fters

format doesn't matter if the players don't care

I’m hoping the international players care and then the US players have to try to avoid getting embarrassed.

More likely, they still don’t care, get smoked, and save face by showing how much they don’t care.

[ontnut]

The top 4 players in the world are all international. This is a sick lineup:

PG - SGA
SG - ???
SF- Doncic
PF - Giannis
C - Jokic

Edit: maybe have Wemby play PF? Either way, international team has a better top 5. USA has more depth, though.

I like it. I think team World should humble team USA.

Wemby at SF, move Doncic to SG

Either way...INSANE roster for team World.

In a strange way, does this increase the chances of a Raptor making the ASG? Barnes and Ingram probably weren’t going to make it anyway, but now the chances might be even lower. It doesn’t seem completely out of the question that RJ would make it though?

Otherwise, how many Canadians on the roster? Over/under 2.5, what are you taking?

I'm not sure Barrett will make it next year because his stats SHOULD go down compared to this year. I'd take the under on 2.5 Canadians pretty handily. SGA is a lock, Murray makes it if he's healthy but he'd be the 4th guard, so I doubt RJ makes it.

2 guards and 3 front court players will be starters, and then 7 reserves selected by the coaches (assuming this voting format is the same next year)

Guards: Starters: SGA, Doncic. Bench: Kyrie, Murray.

Front court: Starters: Jokic, Giannis, Wemby. Bench: Embiid (?), Sabonis, Siakam, Wagner.

That's 10-11 guys that I think are pretty much locks, with Embiid being an injury question mark.

That means there's 1-2 spots left.

RJ's competition would be: Daniels, Markkanen, OG, Kuminga, Sharpe, Zubac, Porzingis, Poeltl, Avdija, Wiggins.

My guess is RJ is 4th in line behind Daniels, Markkanen (depending if he can rebound from last year), and OG. Maybe RJ gets in as an injury replacement. Kuminga if he's traded is also a dark horse.

[kalel123]

Are there enough All-Star level international players to fill out the roster and have it be fair to the rest? Just a question that comes to mind without really looking into it.

How is the voting/selection going to be compared to prior years? Hoping they gave it some actual thought before pulling the trigger.

At the end of the day, it's probably going to be short-term publicity stunt but won't fix the root problem: players don't care.

[ishoy123]

This was literally Giannis's idea

[Prestige]

They’re just grasping at straws. This isn’t a sustainable model unless you can always ensure you have a good roster of international all stars and that they aren’t injured. Are they just going to change the structure on the fly?

This is on the back of the delay to announce the MVP, and last years ASG. It seems like there’s no structure or consistency under Adam Silver, and they’re just winging it based on whatever they think. Sort of like Trump.

[Tofubeque]

With huge career incentives for making all-star, I don’t think they’ll actually change the east/west vote to listing players by domestic and foreign. This should just affect how the all-stars are split after the fact and some American players will need to get shoehorned onto team world.

[Coco Costanza]

They’re just grasping at straws. This isn’t a sustainable model unless you can always ensure you have a good roster of international all stars and that they aren’t injured.

Does it have to be sustainable? I think a better approach might be to come up with a new idea every year. I know that's basically what they've been doing, but I don't think there's any reason to assume USA vs World is going to be a regular thing.

[YogurtProducer]

With huge career incentives for making all-star, I don’t think they’ll actually change the east/west vote to listing players by domestic and foreign. This should just affect how the all-stars are split after the fact and some American players will need to get shoehorned onto team world.

Or they will just have 13 on one side an 11 on the other. Won't really matter.

There is no incentives for making all star anyways I dont think

[Boardbreaker]

There’s talk of Scottie and others joining team Jamaica so that could put him in the international player pool

[YogurtProducer]

The top 4 players in the world are all international. This is a sick lineup:

PG - SGA
SG - ???
SF- Doncic
PF - Giannis
C - Jokic

Edit: maybe have Wemby play PF? Either way, international team has a better top 5. USA has more depth, though.

World teams are so "big" - they have SGA and Doncic as true all star level guards, and then just absolutely no all star wings, and about 12 all star bigs.

SGA / Doncic
Wings????
Embiid Gobert Jokic Wemby Giannis Sabonis

After that who is it? Murray? OG? KAT? Wagner? Sengun?

Team world gonna roll out Jokic / Giannis / Embiid / Sabonis / Wemby at some point

[YogurtProducer]

They’re just grasping at straws. This isn’t a sustainable model unless you can always ensure you have a good roster of international all stars and that they aren’t injured.

Does it have to be sustainable? I think a better approach might be to come up with a new idea every year. I know that's basically what they've been doing, but I don't think there's any reason to assume USA vs World is going to be a regular thing.

Absolutely ditching the all star game, and instead doing a "4 Nations" type thing would be the absolute best case scenario for the NBA.

You already do pre-season games with Euroleague teams and Aussies - I wonder if you could convince them to all hold breaks at the same time and have like countries participate in a quick international tournament (every 2 years or something) in America with NBA Rules and what not. Would be intriguing to see how differently it would play out than a FIBA tournament.

[Landomar]

As someone mentioned, the World team projects to be almost all big men. You have Doncic, SGA, and a bunch of bigs. I suppose Jamal Murray could make the team, and you could have Franz Wagner playing SG.

Jokic / Embiid / Sengun
Giannis / Siakam / Sabonis
Wemby / Markannen
Doncic / F.Wagner
SGA / J.Murray

If all these guys are healthy, I'd guess these are the 12 that make the roster.

[Clay Davis]

Kinda worked for the NHL. The Four Nations Cup was awesome. High rizz idea!!

[DreamTeam09]

The notion that there isn't enough intl AS to make this sustainable is nonsense

Shai/Jokic/Giannis/Wemby/Jokic is a 5+ yr run
Throw in guys like Pascal/Murray/Franz/Sengun/RJ/sabonis and kids in upcoming draft classes

[Tofubeque]

With huge career incentives for making all-star, I don’t think they’ll actually change the east/west vote to listing players by domestic and foreign. This should just affect how the all-stars are split after the fact and some American players will need to get shoehorned onto team world.

Or they will just have 13 on one side an 11 on the other. Won't really matter.

There is no incentives for making all star anyways I dont think

It would have been 20 on one side and 6 on the other with the 2025 crop of all-stars. To even make a 9 player team Barkley needed to rope in 3 American born players.

[YogurtProducer]

With huge career incentives for making all-star, I don’t think they’ll actually change the east/west vote to listing players by domestic and foreign. This should just affect how the all-stars are split after the fact and some American players will need to get shoehorned onto team world.

Or they will just have 13 on one side an 11 on the other. Won't really matter.

There is no incentives for making all star anyways I dont think

It would have been 20 on one side and 6 on the other with the 2025 crop of all-stars. To even make a 9 player team Barkley needed to rope in 3 American born players.

Giannis / Embiid / Doncic / SGA / Jokic / KAT is the 6 from last year. But you still got those fringe guys like Sabonis / Siakam / Murray / Markkannen / Wemby / SEngun who all could be selected, none of whom anyone would complain making the team over Bam or Randle or Scottie or whoever else the bottom gys are.

[Raptors Realtor]

I'll take the world.