The
Italian Basketball Federation organised an
All-Star Game in 1980, to celebrate the
Italian national team's silver medal at the
1980 Summer Olympics. The first official All-Star Game, which was held on 12 May 1982, was organised by the
Lega Basket, which is the entity responsible for organizing the top two professional leagues in Italy, the
first-tier level
Serie A and the second-tier level
Serie A2. Two teams from the respective divisions and the coaches, were chosen by the public, at the league's games, a few weeks before the all-star game, which was held at the
Palasport di San Siro in
Milan. For the November 1992 edition, the event was named the
ULEB All-Star Game, and it was organised in partnership with the
Spanish ACB League's organizing body, the
ACB. A squad from each league competed in the game, which was held in
Madrid. The formula was repeated the next year, that time in
Rome. The 1994 edition of the ULEB All-Star Game, also featured a team of the top-tier level
French Pro A League's
LNB All-Stars. The three squads, which were mostly made up of foreign players, played each other in games of a single 20 minute quarter, in
Valencia's
Fuente de San Luis. The senior men's
Italian national team has participated in a number of All-Star Games. Originally, the squad of Serie A based players was very similar to the main squad, with only one player (the Spain-based
Nikola Radulović) from the
2003 EuroBasket bronze medal team absent for the December 2003 edition. In later editions, with the departure of a number of players abroad (to the
NBA for example), the Italian squads were more experimental, and consisted mostly of
reserve team players and promising young players. The 2014 and 2015 editions saw the absence of
EA7 Emporio Armani Milano players, as the club was involved in
EuroLeague games during the same period. In November 2016,
Lega Basket canceled the All-Star Game for the
2016–17 LBA season. That was decided by the General Meeting of the
LBA clubs, which met in
Bologna, at the headquarters of the Lega Basket. According to Lega Basket's president, Egidio Bianchi, the Lega Basket was unable to produce an interesting format under which to hold the All-Star Game. ==Editions==