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Five Best Moments From a Shockingly Great 2026 NBA All-Star Game

The mini tournament of two American teams and one international team was a pleasant surprise with Anthony Edwards, Kawhi Leonard and Victor Wembanyama stealing the show.
Liam McKeone, Blake Silverman|
Victor Wembanyama was one of the best parts of the 2026 NBA All-Star Game
Victor Wembanyama was one of the best parts of the 2026 NBA All-Star Game | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The NBA All-Star Game has received significant criticism from the fans for years now but that criticism has been particularly harsh over the last few seasons. As a result the league has experimented with the format and introduced a Team USA vs. World concept for this year in honor of the ongoing Winter Olympics. There was plentiful skepticism entering Sunday’s All-Star Game around that new format and whether it was possible to solve the issues of effort and lack of interest in the modern ASG event.

Well, it did! The 2026 NBA All-Star Game was a smashing success. All the players selected to participate took it seriously and played reasonably hard—a huge leap from the bare minimum showings of years past. Even better, the games themselves proved tremendously competitive and the final margin was only a few points in nearly every contest.

In totality it was pretty close to what every fan wished for heading into the weekend: an inspired, effort-fueled showcase that demonstrated the remarkable abilities of the NBA’s many superstars. The championship bout proved a bit of a flop because they tried so hard in the round-robin format but that’s a problem the NBA is very glad to have.

In fewer words, it was really freaking cool. In honor of the best All-Star Game in recent memory, here are five of the best moments from Sunday night.

Victor Wembanyama makes good on promise, leads competitive Game 1

Nobody within the NBA sphere has been more vocal with their frustration about the lack of effort in the All-Star Game than Wembanyama. He promised to make this year’s game competitive, and it was easy to believe he would try; it was harder to have faith it would lead to reciprocal efforts from his teammates or opponents. Fortunately, Wemby got the opportunity to make good on his promise immediately by taking the floor in Game 1 with Team World vs. Team Stripes.

He did, indeed, give it his all, resulting in a great game that set the tone for the rest of the night. Wembanyama had 14 points, six rebounds, and three blocks in what wound up a genuinely exciting overtime affair. It was the first sign that Sunday’s event was actually something different.

Thrilling ending to Game 2 between Team USA rosters

The second game of the night pitted Team Stars vs. Team Stripes with both teams made out of American players. It followed the tone set by the first game in terms of competitiveness and effort. As a result it followed in terms of the margin, too, with the game quite close for most of its 12 minutes. The final 60 seconds in particular made for absolutely thrilling basketball.

Team Stripes entered the final minute up by four points. Then Anthony Edwards grabbed a rebound off a Kawhi Leonard miss and went coast-to-coast for a sweet lay-in. He followed that up by stealing the ball from Donovan Mitchell and draining a three-pointer to give Team Stars a one-point lead with 19 seconds remaining. Team Stripes held the ball for the final shot before LeBron James dished it to Mitchell in the paint, who kicked it out to De’Aaron Fox for a buzzer-beating three. It was tremendous to watch.

Kawhi Leonard scores 31 in Game 3

The final game of the round-robin format was a do-or-die contest as Team World and Team Stripes faced off with the winner set to advance to the championship round. It led to an unexpected appearance from vintage Kawhi Leonard.

The Clippers’ superstar, playing in front of his home crowd, caught absolute fire to lead Team Stripes to the championship round. He dropped 31 points on 11-for-13 shooting and dominated in all the ways we’ve come to expect Leonard to dominate. He hit a few stepback jumpers, recorded a pair of steals, and generally looked like the singular force of nature who was once considered among the very best players in the world. It was a fantastic basketball-viewing experience to see Leonard do that against five of the best players the world has to offer opposite him.

Ant being Ant

Anthony Edwards was named All-Star Game MVP after he led Team Stars to the win. He had 32 total points in the three games he played in as the primary source of offense for the night’s big winner. He dropped 13 points in Game 1 where Team Stars prevailed in overtime (more on that in a moment) and hit a clutch three with 13.3 seconds left in regulation to tie the game with Team World.

Of course, we got some classic Ant-Man moments along the way, in addition to his dazzling play on the floor. He was ready to go at Wembanyama, taking the opening tip against the 7’5” phenom. Edwards didn’t win that battle, but he’d never shy away from a challenge. He did have some words for the ref who threw the tip because in Edwards’s eyes, he should have won.

Edwards credited Wembanyama for setting the tone with his competitive play in a hilarious interview with the MVP hardware in tow. James and Kevin Durant guarded Edwards in the final and the Timberwolves superstar didn’t want the OGs to beat his squad of young guns two times in one night.

“I want to cook them every time, you know that,” he said.

Scottie Barnes’s overtime three-pointer to win Game 1

The Raptors All-Star only had three points in the first game of the night, but his sole bucket came when Team Stars needed it most.

To open the new format, 12 minutes of regulation wasn’t enough to decide a winner. Team Stars and Team World went to overtime where the first team to score five points won. It was a great burst of basketball where Team Stars trailed 3-2 and didn’t want to give the ball back to the international team for a chance to win. Team World sent a ton of attention toward Edwards, prompting the Timberwolves star to dish to an open Barnes beyond the three-point line who clutched up and iced the game.

Barnes had five additional points over Team Stars’ next two contests, including another three in the final. But his clutch shot in the opener was one of the most exciting moments of the night. Plus, if Team Stars didn’t win in overtime, they wouldn’t have advanced to the final and Edwards wouldn’t have won MVP.

The check from Edwards is in the mail, Scottie.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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Blake Silverman
BLAKE SILVERMAN

Blake Silverman is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, he covered the WNBA, NBA, G League and college basketball for numerous sites, including Winsidr, SB Nation's Detroit Bad Boys and A10Talk. He graduated from Michigan State University before receiving a master's in sports journalism from St. Bonaventure University. Outside of work, he's probably binging the latest Netflix documentary, at a yoga studio or enjoying everything Detroit sports. A lifelong Michigander, he lives in suburban Detroit with his wife, young son and their personal petting zoo of two cats and a dog.

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