The NBA is hoping a drastic format change to the 2026 NBA All-Star Game will ignite its biggest stars to bring some effort to the midseason exhibition.
The league is introducing its first USA vs. World format, a three-team tournament featuring two American teams and one international team. The change comes a year after the NHL’s successful 4 Nations Face-Off, a tournament composed of four teams representing their home country.
It’s ultimately the players who will dictate the effort level come Sunday, though at least two have already declared their willingness to play hard.
“What I care about is the way we’d win. I want to play HARD, and I also want to influence the great players of this sport to play just as hard as I will,” Spurs center Victor Wembayanama said in French last month. “We’ll see how it goes. But if they don’t wanna go hard, we’ll have to do without them.”
The third-year star also declared his willingness to play hard ahead of last year’s All-Star Game, his first in the NBA, but his energy was not reciprocated by the rest of the field. Wembanyama was visibly frustrated with low-effort plays by his teammates.
Wembanyama’s sentiments have been shared by fans and analysts alike for several years.
In 2024, following the highest-scoring NBA All-Star Game in history—both teams combined to score 397 points—ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins called the contest “disrespectful to the game of basketball.”
Legendary basketball journalist David Aldridge described the 2024 contest as “dreadful.”
“I am beginning to think this game is irredeemable. I am not sure why even minimal defense effort is beyond this generation of All-Stars,” Aldridge wrote.
Last season, the NBA adapted the first tournament-style format, though players’ effort levels did not change. Commissioner Adam Silver described the 2025 All-Star Game as “a miss.”
Kevin Durant, a 16-time All-Star, is skeptical about whether Wembanyama’s attitude will rub off on the rest of the competition this year.
“We’ll see, we’ll see. I mean, of course Vic [gonna say that],” Durant said earlier this week. “He said that last year, too, and he said it was the worst All-Star Game and people watch. So we’ll see. … This format might change the game, but who knows, we’ll see.”
Jamal Murray, who is making his All-Star Game debut, also declared his plans to play hard.
“It was just like I’d rather go on vacation if that’s the basketball we’re going to be playing,” Murray said earlier this month. “I’m down to play one-on-one. I don’t care. I’m just competitive right. I would like to play. I know Wembanyama will play. I know Giannis would play if he were to. So I just wanna be one of those guys who’s known as somebody that’s gonna play hard whenever he steps on the court. Not just half-ass it.”
Murray and Wembanyama will both represent the international team during the game, while Durant will be on Team USA Stripes, one of the two American teams. But when asked whether the Americans plan to give effort during the game, Durant defended the effort given by American players, citing how other European players have also had lackluster All-Star game performances in recent years.
“You should ask the Europeans and the World team if they’re going to compete,” Durant said. “If you look at Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić now, let’s go back and look at what they do in the All-Star Game. Is that competition? So we haven’t questioned what they’ve been doing. But we’re going to question the old heads, the Americans.”
Sunday’s game will be the true determinant of whether the stars up their effort level. But it doesn’t bode well for the league that a few of its most famous players have already been ruled out.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Steph Curry will all miss Sunday’s game due to injury. Antetokounmpo and Gilgeous-Alexander were both named starters for the game, while Curry was the 2025 All-Star Game MVP.
