Draymond Green rips new NBA All-Star Game format, calls USA vs. World a 'joke'

The 2026 NBA All-Star Game is getting a makeover. No more East vs. West. This time, it's Team USA against Team World, and the league is leaning into the global identity it's built over the past decade.

More international stars are in the NBA now than ever before, and officials feel the format change reflects that reality. Not everyone is buying it, though.

Draymond Green isn't sold

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green made that pretty clear on "The Draymond Green Show." The four-time All-Star isn't convinced the new setup solves anything. He thinks layering on new concepts just pulls the game further from what made it worth watching in the first place.

"If I know better about my body, then I'm gonna do better about my body. I think until that starts to be prioritized, I don't think you're going to have a good game. I just don't see it. And the gimmicks by the way? The gimmicks of the All-Star game? Best in the East, best in the West, it works when the game is good, right? ... I think that makes it actually more of a joke in trying to do the gimmicks than just saying, it's East vs. West."

Green went further, saying the USA vs. World concept can't replicate what the old format had.

"It may work for a year. It looks good in a year and then you're like, 'Ah, I don't want to see that again.' Because it wasn't a real game. It wasn't the games that I grew up watching….  I can't see this World vs. USA, and then equated to when KG was on the East, and Shaq's on the West. I can't know that. It doesn't make sense to me. It's not the same thing."