NBA officially announces the All-Star voting process: Voting starts December 18, starters will be revealed on January 20

On December 16 Beijing time, the NBA announced the 2026 All-Star voting timeline. Voting will begin at 1:00 AM Beijing time on December 18 and close at 12:59 PM on January 15. During this window, fans are invited to cast votes for their preferred players to support their selection to the All-Star roster.

For fans eager to fully back their home team’s key players, voting strategy is crucial. The NBA will continue the “one vote counts as three” campaign, where each vote during the event counts triple. Key dates to note (all Beijing time) are December 22, December 26, December 31, January 8, and January 15. The All-Star starters will be announced on January 20.

The 2026 NBA All-Star Game will introduce a new format featuring “Team USA versus Team World,” with three teams competing. Two teams will be composed of American players, while the third team will consist of international players from around the world.

Each team will have at least 8 players, and the event will use a round-robin format consisting of four 12-minute games. The schedule for the round-robin phase is as follows: the first game pits Team A against Team B; the winner of that game faces Team C in the second game; the loser of the first game plays Team C in the third game. After these three games, the two teams with the best records advance to the fourth and final championship game. If all three teams finish with a 1-1 record, the two teams with the highest point differential in the round-robin will move on.

The 2026 NBA All-Star selection will still feature 24 players, with 12 from each of the Eastern and Western Conferences. The five starters from each conference will be chosen by a combined vote from fans (50%), current NBA players (25%), and a media panel (25%). The seven reserves per conference will be selected by NBA head coaches. This year’s selection process removes position restrictions on the court.

Regarding how these 24 players will be divided into the two Team USA squads, the exact plan will be announced later. If the voting results do not yield at least 16 American players and 8 international players, the NBA will add players to meet this minimum requirement. The added players will be decided by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, which may result in at least one team having more than 8 players.

The reserves are chosen through head coach voting, with coaches prohibited from voting for players on their own team. Each conference has 7 reserve spots to fill.

For the 2026 NBA All-Star Game, 24 players will be selected equally from the Eastern and Western Conferences. Fan votes account for 50% in selecting the starters, while current players and media each contribute 25%. Ten starters will be chosen without position restrictions. Reserves, seven per conference, will be picked by head coaches, also without positional limits. If the voting does not produce at least 16 American and 8 international players, Commissioner Adam Silver will add players to fulfill the quota. Once finalized, the league will assign players into teams according to the new “Team USA vs. Team World” tournament format.

The All-Star coaching staffs will be drawn from the teams with the best records in the Eastern and Western Conferences. The head coaches from those top teams will lead one All-Star team each, while an assistant coach from each will be selected to serve as head coach for the other two All-Star teams.

The total prize pool for this year’s All-Star event is $1.8 million. Players on the championship team will each receive $125,000; runners-up will get $50,000 per player; and players on the two teams eliminated in the semifinals will earn $25,000 each.

The 2026 NBA All-Star Game is scheduled to take place on February 16, 2026.