Worldwide Sports News

NBA considers turning All-Star Game into international format originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

More changes are coming to the NBA All-Star Game.

The league has experimented with various iterations over the past several years, including drafting teams, Elam Endings and, most recently, a tournament involving four teams — a format that has already been shelved.

Now, Adam Silver has told The Athletic that the NBA is looking into a potential showdown in 2026 between American players and worldwide stars.

One factor that the league is considering is that NBC will air the game next February for the first time since 2002. The All-Star festivities will take place in the midst of the Milan Cortina Olympics, which NBC will also broadcast.

“Our All-Star Game will return to NBC next season in the middle of their coverage of the Winter Olympics,” Silver told The Athletic. “Given the strong interest we’ve seen in international basketball competitions, most recently in last summer’s Olympics in Paris, we’re discussing concepts with the players association that focus on NBA players representing their countries or regions instead of the more traditional formats that we’ve used in the past.”

Byron Spruell, the NBA’s president of league operations, echoed Silver’s sentiments.

“NBC is very much leaning into it, given their role — we are, as well,” Spruell said. “Looking to do something new and different yet again, but excited about the possibility.”

The newly opened Intuit Dome in Los Angeles will play host to the 2026 All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 15, during the afternoon. By moving the game up a few hours, NBC will follow it up with Olympic prime-time coverage from Italy.

Silver added that the arena, which will host basketball games during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, gives the NBA a unique chance to play on the international theme.

“We’ll be competing in the arena at Intuit, where the basketball competition will take place in the 2028 Olympics,” Silver said. “So, I think all of those factors, when they come together, it presents an enormous opportunity for us to do something with an international competition instead of the traditional All-Star formats that we’ve used.”

At one time, it would’ve been far-fetched to have a competition pitting American players against everyone else. But many of the world’s best players now hail from outside the United States — including every NBA MVP from 2019 through this season (three outsiders are MVP finalists in 2025).

The pool of foreign players includes Nikola Jokić (Serbia), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Luka Dončić (Slovenia), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), Victor Wembanyama (France), Pascal Siakam (Cameroon) Alperen Şengün (Turkey). Joel Embiid was born in Cameroon, but has competed internationally for Team USA as an American citizen.

The NHL used a similar idea for its 2025 All-Star format, where the 4 National Face-Off was seen as a massive success. While the NBA wouldn’t use a drawn out tournament like the NHL did, it would attempt to build that sense of pride in representing your country.

Will Celtics close out series vs. Magic in Game 5? Here's what history says originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics are a little banged up right now. Jayson Tatum is dealing with a bone bruise in his wrist. Jaylen Brown had a knee injury over the final few weeks of the regular season. Jrue Holiday has missed the last two games of the NBA playoffs with a right hamstring strain.

Therefore, it would greatly benefit the C’s to end their first-round series against the Orlando Magic with a Game 5 win Tuesday night at TD Garden. The Celtics took a 3-1 series lead with a Game 4 victory at Orlando on Sunday.

What does history say about Boston’s chances of closing out the series in short order?

For starters, the C’s are 31-0 all-time when leading a series 3-1, per stats guru Dick Lipe. In those 31 series, they eliminated the opponent in five games 20 times, in six games nine times and in seven games twice.

The Magic are 0-7 all-time when they trail a series 3-1. They also have lost four consecutive elimination games. Orlando is 0-8 all-time on the road in Game 5 of a best-of-7 postseason series.

Wrapping up this first-round series as quickly as possible would give the Celtics some extra time to rest and recover before the Eastern Conference semifinals.

But the Magic aren’t likely to quit.

Paolo Banchero is a rising superstar. Franz Wagner is a confident player. Orlando has lost three times in four games but has played Boston pretty competitively throughout the series. This series could easily be tied 2-2 right now, but Tatum and Brown stepped up in the fouth quarter Sunday to lead the C’s to a much-needed win.

The Celtics excelled at ending series quickly in last year’s playoffs. None of their four series went past five games. Can they continue that trend? We’ll find out tonight.

Tip-off for Game 5 is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston, with our coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET with Celtics Pregame Live.

Butler has blunt Brooks admission after heated Warriors-Rockets Game 4 originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Warriors superstar Jimmy Butler wants to make one thing clear: he and Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks are not buddies.

After the 109-106 Golden State win in Game 4 of the Western Conference playoffs, Butler was asked if he and Brooks were having fun during the game, a notion the 35-year-old instantly dismissed.

“No, we’re not having fun,” Butler said. “Get me on the record with this: I don’t like Dillon Brooks. We’re never having fun. I’m a fierce competitor. He’s a fierce competitor. There ain’t nothing fun about that.”

"I don't like Dillon Brooks." — Jimmy Butler 😳 pic.twitter.com/84vxd5v4bz

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 29, 2025

Game 4 was emblematic of the series up until this point: a brutal slugfest with both teams attempting to break the other mentally and physically. Technical and flagrant fouls abounded as longtime Warriors foe Brooks sparred with Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Butler. The Rockets played their typical rough-and-tumble style, contesting every shot and pestering the Warriors at every turn.

Butler returned from a one-game absence and gutted things out, performing masterfully down the stretch despite reeling from a painful pelvic contusion sustained in Game 2. Thanks to his gritty performance and another vintage defensive effort from Green, Golden State pulled out the win to go up 3-1 on Houston in the best-of-seven first-round series.

With a must-win Game 5 looming for Houston on its home court, expect Brooks and Butler to continue their fierce competition. And even if they might crack a smile or two while battling it out, remember: they’re not playing around.

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Source: Kings finalizing contract to make Christie next coach originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

It’s official. The “interim” title no longer is attached to Doug Christie’s job description.

The Kings are finalizing a multiyear contract to make Christie their next coach, a source confirmed to NBC Sports California. ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the news Tuesday morning, citing sources.

Christie took over for Mike Brown, who was fired in late December following a 13-18 start to the 2024-25 NBA season. Under Christie, the Kings went 27-24 and finished as the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference.

Sacramento was eliminated in the first NBA play-in game.

This story will be updated.

Source: Kings finalizing contract to make Christie next coach originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

It’s official. The “interim” title no longer is attached to Doug Christie’s job description.

The Kings are finalizing a multiyear contract to make Christie their next coach, a source confirmed to NBC Sports California. ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the news Tuesday morning, citing sources.

Christie took over for Mike Brown, who was fired in late December following a 13-18 start to the 2024-25 NBA season. Under Christie, the Kings went 27-24 and finished as the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference.

After Sacramento’s season-ending NBA play-in loss to the Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento replaced former general manager Monte McNair with longtime executive Scott Perry. While speaking at his introductory press conference last week, Perry didn’t want to disclose too much information on the coaching search but detailed his relationship with Christie over the years.

“What I can tell you is I spent time with Doug Christie already,” Perry said. “I first met Doug Christie when he was a player at Toronto, so I admired him as a player, his career. I’ve watched him this year from afar in terms of his ability to have a presence on the court. I think he’s made a connection with players. We’ve had a few conversations up to this point. He was one of the first people I met with yesterday when I got into town.”

Perry added that his phone had been “incessantly” ringing with other potential coaching candidates interested in the job, and that he wanted to have a few more conversations before making a final decision.

Amongst the fired coaches who potentially were available for a new coaching gig are: Mike Budenholzer (last with Phoenix Suns), Michael Malone (last with Denver Nuggets) and Taylor Jenkins (last with Memphis Grizzlies).

And depending on how the rest of the NBA playoffs shake out, several other possible candidates could have become available, such as Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers, who currently is trying to dig his team out of a first-round playoff exit.

But Perry seemingly didn’t want to wait any longer. With a busy offseason ahead, he ticked one box off his long list of to-dos.

Christie, who played with the Kings for five seasons from 2000 to 2005, has a personal love and appreciation for the organization and city of Sacramento. You could see it through his emotions and feel it through his words each and every time he spoke at a pre- or postgame podium.

“This is where I want to be,” Christie said after the Kings’ season-ending loss. “I need to finish what I started, and that’s the only reason I ever stepped onto the sideline from where I was at initially. I had to exorcise some demons for myself.”

He also had support from several of his players.

“He did a good job for us when he came in, he tried to keep it real simple for us,” Kings guard Keon Ellis said during end-of-season exit interviews. “We have some really talented players on our team, so just try not to overdo anything, and let us go out there and be pros. He definitely didn’t want to do too much. … As far as his professionalism and his leadership, I think that’s a big thing when you’re talking about Doug. Former player. He has respect from everyone.

“I think he’s telling us the right things game in, game out, practice, whatever. The messages he’s given us are either the ones you don’t want to hear or the tough ones we need to hear. So just keeping it real with us and if you have that, you’re not going into any game with him telling you something that it’s not going to be. I think he did a good job at that. Those are the things that you need.”

Players during their exit interviews also talked about longing for some organizational stability and consistency, something lacking in Sacramento for several years. Perhaps hiring a man who has been tied to the franchise for more than two decades is the first step in bringing just that.

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Podziemski shines in big, little ways in Warriors' Game 4 win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – As good as Brandin Podziemski was in terms of scoring – he was all that and a bag of chips, pouring in a playoff career-high 26 points – he was equally effective doing all of the other little things that Warriors fans have come to expect from the plucky second-year guard.

With his patented stand-your-ground mindset, Podziemski absorbed yet another charging foul, had five rebounds, five assists, two steals, and made a brilliant defensive gem after Rockets guard Fred VanVleet zipped around him headed for the hoop. Podziemski didn’t flinch and chased Van Vleet down, making a clutch block from behind with 4:22 minutes remaining to preserve Golden State’s slim lead.

When the Rockets got the ball back a few minutes then threw the ball out of bounds, Podziemski flexed and appeared to growl at the frenzied crowd.

Podz gets the block 🚫
Jimmy gets the layup 🤝 pic.twitter.com/QBEe0LRaV1

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 29, 2025

“Obviously, it’s magnified a little bit because it was a key possession,” Podziemski said after Golden State’s 109-106 win. “But just understanding watching film, (Van Vleet) is not the best finisher in the paint. Either he wants to spray it out or shoot 3s a lot of the time.

“I wasn’t too worried when he got past me. Just kind of rode the drive. He went for a floater, I just tried to help (Draymond Green) out a little and get a piece of it.”

Podziemski has been doing the little things ever since he entered the NBA as Golden State’s first-round pick (No. 19 overall) in the 2023 NBA Draft.

That earned him a big spot in coach Steve Kerr’s rotations and has raised his standing in the hearts of many Warriors fans, including some of his own teammates.

“The skill is there but it’s his heart,” Green said. “I like to call it irrational confidence. He puts work in but he has irrational confidence. It’s one of those things I actually wish I had. He just has the ultimate belief in himself and his abilities. He’s been showing it for the last few months. 

“Tonight we need it in a major way and he stepped up.”

The 6-foot-5 Podziemski always has played bigger than his size and has had a no-fear mentality to go with that aggressive style. That earned him a spot with the closing five Monday when he was locked up with Van Vleet.

“Brandin’s big-time,” Kerr said. “Second-year player but plays like a 10th-year guy. He’s got so much poise and confidence. He was obviously a key to everything.”

Kerr noted that Podziemski, among several others, has benefited greatly since the team traded for Jimmy Butler.

“Jimmy’s arrival was huge for him,” Kerr said. “Once we got Jimmy, we were running a lot of offense through Jimmy, and that allowed Brandin to play on the other side. He’s at his best when he can do that.”

Podziemski didn’t get that deep and kept it pretty simple when summing up his performance in Game 4.

“Just tried to do my best to help (Stephen Curry) and we ended up getting the win,” he said. “That’s all we wanted tonight.”

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