Silver's announcement sounds promising after the poor reception to the tournament structure applied to this year's All-Star Game. Whatever the format of the game, Silver's decision to pivot to a format with a global identity appropriately accommodates their media partner's broadcast plans for the Milano Cortina Games in Northeast Italy.

The NBA is working on a plan to turn next season's All-Star Game into a U.S.-vs.-world competition, a person with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday. It remains unclear how the format will work,