2026 NBA All-Star Weekend Preview: USA vs World Format and Rosters

NBA All-Star Weekend lands in the Los Angeles area on February 13-15, 2026, and the 75th All-Star Game tips off on Sunday at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, hosted by the Los Angeles Clippers. The game will air nationally on NBC for the first time since 2002 and will stream live on Peacock.

This preview breaks down the weekend in a practical way: the new USA vs. World tournament format for Sunday, how the round-robin and tiebreakers work, who made each roster, and what’s officially on the schedule across Friday and Saturday, including the confirmed contest fields.

Here is the full NBA All-Star Weekend schedule table:

Friday is the widest-scope day of the weekend: entertainment, emerging talent, and a featured college showcase.

The Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game is staged at Kia Forum in Inglewood. The official roster release includes a broad mix of entertainers, creators, media figures, and athletes, and the game is televised on ESPN.

Castrol Rising Stars returns as a mini-tournament, giving the weekend its cleanest next-wave viewing window with top rookies and sophomores alongside a G League squad.

Friday’s official schedule also includes the NBA HBCU Classic presented by AT&T: Hampton University vs North Carolina A&T State University.

For 2026, the NBA’s official All-Star Saturday program at Intuit Dome features 3 events:

• State Farm 3-Point Contest
• Kia Shooting Stars
• AT&T Slam Dunk

The 2026 field mixes elite volume shooters with creators who can heat up quickly in a one-round setting. Confirmed contestants are Devin Booker, Kon Knueppel, Damian Lillard, Tyrese Maxey, Donovan Mitchell, Jamal Murray, Bobby Portis Jr., Norman Powell.

Shooting Stars is a quick-fire team event built for highlights rather than long possessions, so chemistry and role clarity matter more than volume scoring. Here are the 4 confirmed trios for 2026:

• Team All-Star: Scottie Barnes, Chet Holmgren, Richard Hamilton.
• Team Cameron: Jalen Johnson, Kon Knueppel, Corey Maggette.
• Team Harper: Dylan Harper, Ron Harper Jr., Ron Harper.
• Team Knicks: Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Allan Houston.

The dunk contest remains the weekend’s pure showpiece – 4 entrants, 2 rounds, and a format that rewards creativity as much as vertical pop. The official 2026 field is Carter Bryant, Jaxson Hayes, Keshad Johnson, Jase Richardson

The 2026 All-Star Game is a three-team round-robin tournament featuring 2 USA teams and 1 World team. The top 2 teams advance to a championship game. If all 3 teams finish 1-1 after the round-robin, point differential is used as the tiebreaker.

All 4 games are played with a 12-minute time limit. That format matters – fewer minutes reduce dead stretches, and point differential gives teams a reason to keep playing with intent even when a game appears to be drifting.

The round-robin is scheduled in a fixed order:

• Game 1: USA Stars vs Team World.
• Game 2: USA Stripes vs the Game 1 winner.
• Game 3: USA Stripes vs the Game 1 loser.
• Championship: the top 2 teams meet in the final.

Rosters were chosen through the NBA’s standard All-Star process, then finalized to fit the new USA vs. World tournament format. 

Starters were decided via a combined vote split across fans, media, and current players, while reserves were selected by NBA head coaches with the usual restriction that they cannot vote for players from their own team.

Because Sunday uses 2 USA teams and 1 World team, the league finalizes a 24-player pool designed to produce 16 American players and 8 international players. 

If the selection results do not meet that balance, the NBA commissioner can make adjustments to complete the pool. Players are then assigned to USA Stars, USA Stripes, and Team World regardless of position.

3 head coaches were selected for the All-Star tournament teams:

• J. B. Bickerstaff
• Mitch Johnson
• Darko Rajaković

The lineups were assigned regardless of position.

USA Stars

Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Maxey, Scottie Barnes, Devin Booker, Jalen Duren, Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Johnson.

USA Stripes

Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Donovan Mitchell, Norman Powell.

Team World

De’Aaron Fox, Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić, Victor Wembanyama, Deni Avdija, Jamal Murray, Alperen Şengün, Pascal Siakam, Karl-Anthony Towns. Injured (not playing): Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The league also confirmed Alperen Şengün as the injury replacement for Gilgeous-Alexander.

Beyond the arena events, NBA Crossover runs Thursday through Sunday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It is the league’s all-day hub for appearances, activations, merch, and additional programming that sits alongside the televised events.

One of the key Sunday items is the NBA G League Next Up Game, staged from NBA Crossover at the Convention Center before the All-Star tournament begins later that day.

The PlayStation NBA Creator Cup also returns as part of the weekend programming at NBA Crossover. The official rules outline a short-form format built for pace: a 10-minute game clock, a 12-second shot clock, and a first-to-21 win condition, with sudden-death overtime if tied at the buzzer.

If you want the simplest viewing plan, the schedule is built to flow without overthinking it:

• Friday gives you variety: Celebrity Game, Rising Stars, and the HBCU Classic.
• Saturday is a tight contest-night run: 3-Point, Shooting Stars, then Dunk to close.
• Sunday is the true novelty: the G League showcase earlier in the day, then the USA vs World All-Star tournament at night.

Top betting sites are already offering odds on each event, making it easy for fans to enjoy the weekend with an extra level of excitement.

In 2026, it also sells structure. With 3 teams, standings, and point differential as a tiebreaker, Sunday has a logic that the event has been missing in recent years, and the weekend around it is arranged to build directly into that change.