{"id":601330,"date":"2026-02-13T18:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/601330\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T18:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:47:16","slug":"explaining-new-usa-vs-world-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/601330\/","title":{"rendered":"Explaining new USA vs. World format"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA All-Star Game<\/a> is going global.<\/p>\n

Well, sort of.<\/p>\n

The NBA changed the format of its much-scrutinized All-Star Game<\/a> yet again, with Sunday\u2019s exhibition set to feature a USA vs. World competition for the first time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an overhaul that has been rumored for years, with NBA commissioner Adam Silver hopeful<\/a> that playing for national pride will serve as a motivator for the All-Stars.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know before the new-look event tips off at Los Angeles\u2019 Intuit Dome on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

HOW DOES IT WORK?<\/p>\n

The talent pool includes the initial 25 All-Stars who were voted in, plus three injury replacements. That group was split into three teams, with each including at least eight players.<\/p>\n

Two of the teams \u2014 USA Stars and USA Stripes \u2014 are made up of top U.S. players, while a third, World, is composed of international NBA stars.<\/p>\n

The teams will each face each other in a round-robin tournament, with each game lasting 12 minutes.<\/p>\n

The top two teams from the round-robin round will then play each other in the All-Star Championship, which will be another 12-minute game.<\/p>\n

WHO IS PLAYING?<\/p>\n

The USA Stripes roster includes veterans Jalen Brunson<\/a>, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Jaylen Brown, Donovan Mitchell, Brandon Ingram and De\u2019Aaron Fox.<\/p>\n

Stephen Curry is also part of that team but will not play due to injury.<\/p>\n

USA Stars features a younger roster made up of Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, Scottie Barnes, Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Duren, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Johnson.<\/p>\n

Ingram and Fox were both injury replacements.<\/p>\n

The World team includes Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a>, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, Pascal Siakam, Alperen Sengun, Jamal Murray, Deni Avdija and Norman Powell.<\/p>\n

In a blow to the World team, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will both miss the game due to injury.<\/p>\n

Sengun was an injury replacement.<\/p>\n

WHY THE CHANGE?<\/p>\n

The global format was inspired partly by the Ryder Cup and partly by the NHL\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off, a nine-day tournament between the U.S., Canada, Finland and Sweden that replaced last year\u2019s NHL All-Star Game and earned rave reviews.<\/p>\n

Historically, the NBA All-Star Game pitted the Eastern Conference against the Western Conference, but interest in that format waned as defense and effort became increasingly sparse.<\/p>\n

In recent editions, the rosters were drafted by James, Durant and Antetokounmpo in an attempt to shake things up. Some years featured a \u201ctarget score\u201d that was based on what happened in the first three quarters.<\/p>\n

And last year\u2019s event introduced a four-team tournament, with the winner of each game being the first to score 40.<\/p>\n

That format improved the effort level but still left critics feeling empty,\u00a0especially because some All-Stars played in only one short game. Brunson, for example, played just eight minutes before his team was eliminated.<\/p>\n

Whether the USA vs. World format yields better competition will be determined Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should ask the Europeans and the World team if they\u2019re going to compete,\u201d Durant said recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic now, let\u2019s go back and look at what they do in the All-Star Game. Is that competition? So we haven\u2019t questioned what they\u2019ve been doing, but we\u2019re going to question the old heads and the Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

KNICKS IN THE MIX<\/p>\n

Sunday is set to mark the third consecutive All-Star appearance for Brunson, who was named a starter for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n

Brunson is averaging 27.0 points and 6.1 assists per game for the 35-20 Knicks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Towns, meanwhile, is an All-Star for the third year in a row and the sixth time overall. Towns is averaging 19.8 points and 11.9 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n

Although Towns was born and raised in New Jersey, the 7-footer is part of the Dominican Republic national team and will thus be competing for the World on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Brunson and Towns are also competing in Saturday night\u2019s Shooting Stars Challenge, along with Allan Houston, for Team Knicks. That event is a shooting competition featuring four teams made up of current and former All-Stars.<\/p>\n

ALL-STAR SATURDAY<\/p>\n

No other Knicks will compete in All-Star Saturday, which is also set to include the 3-point and slam dunk contents.<\/p>\n

The 3-point contest competitors include Damian Lillard \u2014 who is rehabbing from an Achilles tear \u2014 Maxey, Mitchell, Booker, Murray, Powell, Bobby Portis Jr. and standout rookie Kon Knueppel.<\/p>\n

The dunk contest features Jaxson Hayes, Carter Bryant, Keshad Johnson and Jase Richardson, all of whom will be making their debuts in the event.<\/p>\n

The rookie Richardson is the son of Jason Richardson, who won back-to-back dunk contests in 2002 and 2003.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA All-Star Game is going global. Well, sort of. The NBA changed the format of its much-scrutinized…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,288,563,938,304,185,368,6,7218,1136,191,3810,3806,253,80253,80115,80252],"class_list":{"0":"post-601330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jalen-brunson","10":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","11":"tag-kevin-durant","12":"tag-knicks","13":"tag-lebron-james","14":"tag-luka-doncic","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-all-star-game","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-knicks","19":"tag-newyork","20":"tag-newyorkknicks","21":"tag-nikola-jokic","22":"tag-usa-stars","23":"tag-usa-stripes","24":"tag-usa-vs-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116064815943187065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}