NBA: Clippers will host 2026 All-Star Game in new arena
Published 4:21 pm Tuesday, January 16, 2024
- Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, center, cheers during the second half of an NBA basketball game between the Clippers and the Phoenix Suns Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The NBA is bringing the 2026 All-Star Game to the Los Angeles Clippers’ new arena, which is set to open in time for the 2024-25 season.
“I was giddy when I heard it was possible and even giddier when the NBA said we were getting it,” said Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who attended Tuesday’s announcement inside Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
Commissioner Adam Silver toured the building with Ballmer earlier in the day and said “there is technology unmatched in any facility I’ve ever seen.”
The privately financed arena will house all of the Clippers’ basketball and business operations, with an eye on landing major events.
The first will be All-Star weekend.
The event returns to Southern California for the first time since 2018, when it was played in downtown Los Angeles at the arena formerly known as Staples Center.
Indianapolis will host next month and San Francisco is the site in 2025 at Chase Center, the Golden State Warriors’ arena that opened in 2019.
