Kristian Winfield: 2026 NBA All-Star Game was a success — right until it wasn’t
· Yahoo Sports
The 2026 NBA All-Star Game was a wild success — up until it wasn’t.
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The NBA’s new World vs USA vs USA format gave birth to one of the most competitive All-Star Games in the last decade, right up until the undefeated, aging USA Stripes team ran out of gas in their third game of the night, a 20-point loss to a younger, seemingly hungrier American team that won the All-Star crown.
Confusing? Yes. Fun to watch? At times.
But predictable? Absolutely. The team with the oldest players — starring LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard — started hot, beating the younger American stars and the best of the rest from the international pool before the engine sputtered and the wheels fell off with the championship on the line.
This, however, will do. The league can refine its World vs USA format to bring a better product to its All-Star Weekend.
The NBA Slam Dunk Contest, on the other hand, may be beyond saving. If the NBA is going to let players half-heartedly attempt warmup dunks in its biggest spot of the season, it may as well scrap the event all together and replace it with a high-level game of King of the Court.
No Knicks players reigned as King of the Intuit Dome’s All-Star basketball court on Sunday. Representing the Dominican Republic for Team World, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 10 early points in his first game of the night, a performance that ended with Towns choosing to help on Jalen Duren’s roll to the rim, leaving Scottie Barnes wide-open for a game-winning three even though a Duren layup would have left the World Team with a chance to win it at the buzzer.
And Jalen Brunson scored just five points in his two games played on Sunday, though the second game was over the second the USA Stars jumped out to a 12-1 lead.
At least the Knicks are leaving with some hardware, though it’s not the All-Star MVP trophy. That went to Anthony Edwards even though it should have gone to Kawhi Leonard, who single-handedly sent Victor Wembanyama and the World Team packing with 31 points on only two missed shots in the biggest game of the All-Star Round Robin event.
Brunson agreed with several All-Stars assessment of Wembanyama, whose individual drive seems to have lit a fire for his competition.
“I think Wemby is a leader, and the way he carries himself is fantastic for this game,” Brunson said. “And I think he’s going a great job, and you see what his impact is on and off the court around this game. He’s hurt doing what he does.”
Instead of an All-Star trophy, Brunson, Towns and Knicks OG Allan Houston won the Shooting Stars competition on Saturday, advancing through several rounds of shot-making from different parts of the floor.
Yet on one possession, Brunson held the ball in his hands while Towns stepped out to the three-point line to guard him, a series predictably ending with a series of crossover moves and an open lane to the rim for Brunson with Towns trailing behind with a smile on his face.
Asked about the possession after the game, Brunson laughed and said scoring on his co-star was “easy.”
The NBA no longer needs to overhaul its All-Star Game. The league has found the baseline for new iterations of its marquee event moving forward. It saved the All-Star Game. Now, it’s time to save the Dunk Contest — or scrap it altogether.
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