With the 2025 NBA All-Star Game‘s pickup tournament-style format viewed as a failed experiment, thoughts on what changes can be made for the 2026 showcase were already circulating among the league’s top players.
An idea that appears to be gaining support is a USA-vs.-World matchup. It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that two stars voicing their interest in such a format are the San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.
“I would love to. My opinion is that it’s more purposeful,” Wembanyama said via the Associated Press. “There’s more pride in it. More stakes.”
The thrill from last year’s Paris Olympics basketball tournament is still fresh in the minds of international stars like Wembanyama, who played for France, and Antetokounmpo, who represented Greece in the competition.
“I would love that. Oh, I would love that,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think that would be the most interesting and most exciting format. I would love that. For sure, I’d take pride in that.
“I always compete, but I think that will give me a little bit more extra juice to compete.”
The Olympic tournament provided spectacular basketball, punctuated by Team USA’s 98-87 win over France for the gold medal. Stephen Curry’s 3-pointer with 35 seconds left to clinch the win for the U.S. may be considered the greatest shot in Olympic basketball history.
The possibility of that kind of competition, that level of shot-making, that pride in winning is tantalizing to…
