Worldwide Sports News

The timing could not be more perfect.

The NBA All-Star Game returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026 — right in the middle of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. There is no better time to set up a first-of-its-kind All-Star Game pitting the best of the USA vs. the NBA's deep international talent pool, a world team.

Now we have the details on exactly what that will look like when the games are played on Feb. 15, 2026, at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California (home to the Los Angeles Clippers).

• The 24 All-Star players will be divided into three teams — two USA teams and one world team — that will compete in a round-robin tournament of four 12-minute games. Each of the three teams will have a minimum of eight players (getting to the 24 in a traditional All-Star format).
  
• Selection of All-Star players will remain the way it has been for many years. Fans (along with NBA players and select media) will vote for the 10 starters, five from the Eastern Conference and five from the Western Conference. Following that, a vote of the coaches will select the seven reserves from each conference.
  
• The one big difference: Votes — and the rosters — will be positionless. Fans will be able to vote for five guards (or, with the West these days, five centers) to start if they choose; they will no longer be locked into two backcourt and three frontcourt players. The same will be true of the coach selections for reserves. This simply fits better with the increasingly positionless style of the NBA game today.
  
• If that selection process does not end up with 16 U.S. players and eight international players (including American players with ties to other countries, if necessary), then NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will select an additional player or players to join either group to reach that minimum. Which means some teams could have nine or more players.
  
• How the players will be assigned to the two U.S. teams will be determined at a later date.
  
• Once selected, those three teams will play in a classic round-robin format: Team A will play Team B in Game 1; the winning team from Game 1 will take on Team C in Game 2; followed by the losing team of Game 1 meeting Team C in Game 3.
  
• From there, the top two teams by record advance to the finals, a fourth game. (Note: if all three teams have a 1-1 record after Game 3, the tiebreaker would be point differential.)

Bringing the energy

After the last handful of years, Silver and the NBA have been searching for ways to get more player buy-in — not to mention passion and energy — for the All-Star Game. The hope is that this format change will encourage players to bring the energy fans want to see.

"I would love that. Oh, I would love that," Giannis Antetokounmpo said at last season's All-Star Game about the idea of a USA vs. the World format. "I think that would be the most interesting and most exciting format. I would love that. For sure, I'd take pride in that."

"I would love to. My opinion is that it's more purposeful," Victor Wembanyama added about the idea at the time. "There's more pride in it. More stakes."

That eight-man World Team roster could be stacked: Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Wembanyama, Alperen Sengun, Joel Embiid and Jamal Murray (not to mention Franz Wagner, Lauri Markkanen and more) could qualify for the international team.

Whoever ends up on the court, the pride of playing for one's country should inspire one of the best All-Star Games we have seen in a long time.

When is the 2026 NBA All-Star Game?

The NBA All-Star Game returns to the Los Angeles area this season, with the game being played on Feb. 15, 2026, at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, the new home of the Los Angeles Clippers, and will be broadcast on NBC Sports and Peacock. The All-Star Friday Night Rising Stars game (featuring NBA rookies and second-year players) as well as the All-Star Saturday Night events, including the Dunk Contest and 3-Point Contest, will also take place at the Intuit Dome. Fans will be able to watch all of it on NBC Sports and Peacock.

How to Watch the NBA on NBC and Peacock

Peacock NBA Monday will stream up to three Monday night games each week throughout the regular season. Coast 2 Coast Tuesday presents doubleheaders on Tuesday nights throughout the regular season on NBC and Peacock. On most Tuesdays, an 8 p.m. ET game will be on NBC stations in the Eastern and Central time zones, and an 8 p.m. PT game on NBC stations in the Pacific and often Mountain time zones. Check local listings each week. Both games will stream live nationwide on Peacock. NBC Sports will launch Sunday Night Basketball across NBC and Peacock on Feb. 1, 2026. For a full schedule of the NBA on NBC and Peacock, click here.

Nico Harrison is out as the Dallas Mavericks general manager — something that needed to happen.

Not just because he traded away Luka Doncic, a top-five player in the world entering his prime — although it's hard to imagine a more fireable offense for a GM. More than that, Harrison's firing had to happen now to stop everything that was to come. He had staked everything on his belief that trading away Doncic was what was best for the franchise and had made the Mavericks contenders right now, behind Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, two championship players, but ones who are now older and with injury histories. Sure, Dallas now had No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, but Harrison was all-in on the short term and winning now with these Mavericks, not thinking long-term. Every move he would have made was going to be about the two- to three-year championship window he said the team had. He would have extended Anthony Davis this summer. It would have boxed the team in.

Dallas now has a chance for a reset, but what comes next?

Finding a new GM

Before picking a direction, Dallas has to pick its next decision-maker.

In the short term, Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi will serve as co-interim general managers, the team announced. Finley has been in the Mavericks front office for 11 seasons following his 15-year playing career. Riccardi has been in Dallas since 2022, having come over from the Brooklyn Nets. Both are likely to be interviewed and in the mix to get the job full-time.

One name instantly floated — by none other than former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban — is Dennis Lindsey. He spent seven seasons as the general manager of the Utah Jazz, and has also worked in the front offices of Houston and San Antonio. He is currently the senior vice president of basketball operations with the Detroit Pistons. Lindsey has experience in the role and knows Dallas, although how having the public support of Cuban plays with the current Mavericks ownership is up for debate.
One other name to watch: Jason Kidd. He is currently the Mavericks head coach, but since his time in Brooklyn it has been no secret in league circles that ultimately, he would like to end up being in the front office, putting a team together. Kidd has a strong relationship with team governor/owner Patrick Dumont, which helps.

Whoever the Mavericks choose, they need to do so relatively quickly, because there are major decisions ahead, and they are coming fast.

Pivot toward Cooper Flagg

Dallas has started the season 3-8, although a big part of those struggles is Irving's absence as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered last season. Without him, Harrison turned to D'Angelo Russell to run the point, and while that was the best available option it was not a good one. It led to the situation where Kidd asked Cooper Flagg to play point forward, and he has done as well as a rookie being asked to play out of position could be expected to. But it's not ideal.

That 3-8 start, along with Irving's continued absence, points to a clear direction the Mavericks should take:

Pivot hard and start building around Flagg. Now.

Dallas controls its own draft pick this season, in what is considered a very deep draft at the top. The Mavericks do not control their own picks from 2027 to 2030 — they have only one shot at this.

Doing that leads to other obvious moves. That starts with trading Anthony Davis, maybe at the trade deadline but definitely by next summer. Explore trading some of the other veterans, including Irving, as well as Daniel Gafford, Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington (Dereck Lively, at age 21, should stick around).

It may take a handful of years to bring the entire thing together, but what San Antonio has done around Victor Wembanyama is the model. The Spurs didn't rush it (as much as his otherworldly talent pushes the timeline), they got a little lucky in the NBA Draft Lottery but selected wisely with reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle (who has taken a big step forward in his second season) and No. 2 pick Dylan Harper. When the opportunity arrived to land a high-level player who should pair well with Wemby in the form of De'Aaron Fox, San Antonio jumped at it. It took a few years, but we can all see the plan coming together.

Flagg is not Wembanyama, but the model is the same.

To be clear, the market for Davis — age 32 and with a history of nagging injuries — is not ideal, but there will be interest. Tell Irving to take all the time he needs and then some before returning this season. Then, this summer, work with Irving and test the trade market for a player who is still one of the better point guards in the game.

Dallas should have other goals, such as getting below the luxury tax in the short term and ideally finding a trade with Charlotte, which controls the Mavericks' 2027 first-round pick.

Harrison had a team in the NBA Finals just two seasons ago, then, inexplicably, traded away a star player in his prime, thinking that would give the franchise a better championship window. While there will be a temptation for ownership and the new GM to try to keep that timeline going, it's time to consider those sunk costs. The combination of injury-prone stars and elite teams in Denver and Oklahoma City makes a two- or three-year window seem like a long shot.

It's time for Dallas to think long-term. It's time to pivot and build around Flagg.