NBA looking at significant format change for All-Star Game?

An international player — Nikola Jokic or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — is favored to win the NBA's MVP award for a sixth straight season. When you consider that Slovenia's Luka Doncic and France's Victor Wembanyama are likely to stake claim to the award at some point, the NBA has never felt more global. 

The recent surge of elite global talents in the NBA has caused some analysts to propose the idea of spicing up the All-Star game with a Team International versus Team USA concept. It appears NBA commissioner Adam Silver is giving consideration to the idea.

In a recent interview with CNN's "King Charles" with Charles Barkley and Gayle King, Silver admitted that the NBA All-Star game needs a reset after fans witnessed another uncompetitive contest in 2024. 

"I had fun at All-Star weekend, the fans had fun, but it wasn't a basketball game," Silver admitted. "Had I not seen what happened this year, I think we were ready to do U.S. versus international. I'm just wondering now whether this generation of players and even the teams are complicitous too — nobody wants their players to play hard in the All-Star game. 

"They see it as a midseason break... they see it as an opportunity to have fun. When I looked at the popularity of Steph [Curry] and Sabrina [Ionescu], I felt like we should be looking to do different things — just make it a celebration of basketball. We're going to look at U.S. vs. international. I just think maybe we're past that point where we’re going to play a truly competitive game."