Predictions for Every 2026 NBA All-Star Event
The scene doesn't need much setting, but let's dabble a bit.
Picture the world's greatest rim-rockers, net-shredders and dizzying dribblers. Now, drop them under the Hollywood spotlight amid a sea of celebrities around them.
Sounds fun, right? Well, that's exactly what the NBA has in store for its upcoming All-Star Weekend, a three-day, event-filled basketball showcase that will crown a horde of champions across a handful of competitions.
Can't wait to watch? Well, you sort of don't have to, since we happen to be here with our trusty crystal ball in hand to predict how everything is about to play out.
All-Star Celebrity Game
1 of 6
Not to sound too ancient here, but as a, uh, seasoned member of the viewership, this is the kind of event where I better have a search engine close by. Otherwise, I'll have to fit a few The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and Love Island USA cram sessions into my schedule.
This is truly the most you-never-know-what'll-happen event, in part because you never really know who's going to take it seriously. Again, not to sound like a cloud-yeller, but life was simpler when you could just pencil in Kevin Hart as the Celebrity Game MVP and feel pretty good with the prediction.
Just to throw something at the wall and see if it sticks, let's follow the go-with-what-you-know mantra and think this NBA All-Star event will crown a few NBA winners. More specifically, let's say the Antetokounmpo Brothers come out on top behind an MVP effort from Jeremy Lin. Why not, right?
Rising Stars Championship
2 of 6
This might be the secret sauce of the entire weekend. It won't be the most-streamed event, but it will be the formal introduction for a lot of casual fans to the next wave of NBA greats.
Adding a G League group to the mix in 2022 was a stroke of brilliance, too. They're the least known of the bunch—even with Dunk Contest royalty Mac McClung and summer league sensation Yang Hansen in the mix—and often appear the hungriest. Team Melo is stacked (Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle all wave hello), but Team Austin could put up a ferocious fight.
Maybe this is wishing great theater into existence, but the crystal ball likes Team Melo and Team T-Mac reaching the championship round. That would serve up another delectable duel between Flagg and his Duke teammate (and top Rookie of the Year threat), Kon Knueppel, after the pair put up a preposterous 83 combined points in their first NBA collision a few weeks back.
Another nuclear night from distance for Knueppel could change the outcome this time, though, as we'll say he goes on a long-range bucket barrage with fellow freshman sharpshooter Tre Johnson to lift Team T-Mac to the win.
3-Point Contest
3 of 6
In today's three-point-crazed NBA environment, this is sometimes the highlight of All-Star Saturday. Maybe it will be once again, but this field isn't quite fully loaded with familiar-faced sharpshooters.
There is, however, one decorated distance shooter in the mix, and it's definitely a surprising face to see. That would be two-time event champion Damian Lillard, who might otherwise be unseen this season as he works his way back from a torn Achilles.
A third title would tie Lillard with Larry Bird and Craig Hodges for the most all-time, but our crystal ball can't see it. Instead, it sees more spotlight-shining from Knueppel, who has a non-zero chance of emerging as the weekend's biggest winner. Unacquainted fans could quickly grow awfully familiar with the 6'6" swingman who's already averaging 3.4 splashes per night on a blistering 42.8 percent clip.
Shooting Stars
4 of 6
It's been a minute—or 11 years, actually—since the league last held this event, but it has a chance to return with a bang.
Four teams of past and present shot-makers will try going shot-for-shot with one another across two 70-second rounds that feature shot locations at seven different spots.
Team Knicks boasts the best collection of shooters with Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Allan Houston. Team Cameron has Knueppel, who could have a surging star by Saturday night, alongside fellow former Duke stars Jalen Johnson and Corey Maggette. Team Harper has—wait for it—three Harpers, as father, Ron, and sons, Ron Jr. and Dylan, look to make their family proud.
And then there's...Team All-Star, which has a ton of talent in Scottie Barnes, Chet Holmgren and Richard Hamilton, but no obvious way to link the three. So, generic team name it is!
It's tempting to take Team Cameron here, because the first two nights of this weekend could really belong to Knueppel, but Maggette never had the deepest range, and Johnson is still working to expand his. So, let's say chalk prevails, and the 'Bockers take this one home.
Slam Dunk Contest
5 of 6
For fans and former ferocious finishers lamenting the lack of name recognition in this event, this year's field will do nothing to quiet that criticism.
The most recognizable participants essentially owe the little fame they have to their employer (Jaxson Hayes, backup big for the Los Angeles Lakers) or their father (Jase Richardson, whose father, Jason, was both a two-time contest champion and still an underrated aerial artist).
Keshad Johnson, a sophomore swingman for the Miami Heat, and Carter Bryant, a rookie for the San Antonio Spurs, round out this field of Who He Play For? candidates. As three-time champion Mac McClung can attest, though, stardom isn't required to put on an incredible show at this event.
Sadly, there's no McClung in this field—literally or figuratively. Hayes and Johnson have a good mix of hops and power, but they feel like better in-game dunkers. Richardson has the bloodlines, but his dunk film is nearly nonexistent. Bryant has springs, but no clue if there's creativity behind them.
It's a mystery-box bunch, which is always more than a little worrisome going into it. But maybe someone has a few jaw-droppers in store. Let's go with Johnson—and stamp that prediction with a shoulder-shrug of confidence.
All-Star Game
6 of 6
All-Star Weekend's entree (and dessert) will get served up Sunday in a four-course, round-robin collision under the new "USA vs. World" format. There are two American teams (Stars and Stripes) and then the World squad, with all teams playing each other and then the winners (or two teams with the best point differentials if all games are split) will clash in a championship tussle to close it out.
The injury bug has already knocked a few regulars out of this clash (Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander), and because it's such a nuisance, maybe it'll muck up the rosters again before Sunday. As things stand, though, it feels like the World is set up to draw first blood in this format.
First off, they're massive. Granted, a lack of size isn't necessarily a fatal flaw in such a run-and-gun environment, but the World team is enormous (even without Antetokounmpo). Where's the American answer for a frontcourt featuring Nikola Jokić, Victor Wembanyama, Karl-Anthony Towns and Pascal Siakam? The Stripes don't have a center, and the Stars have only Jalen Duren and Chet Holmgren.
The larger factor, though, is the plethora of playmakers on the World side. The ball can get awfully sticky in the All-Star Game, but the World has several elites who arguably count distributing as their greatest strengths (Dončić and Jokić, specifically). That willingness to involve others should keep everyone engaged and help tie together a team with no experience together.
This is, of course, assuming Dončić isn't held back by the hamstring strain that has bothered him lately, but even if he's less than 100 percent, he can still wow in this type of setting. Plus, the Jokić-Wembanyama tandem feels like the embodiment of a cheat code.
Our crystal ball likes the vet-heavy Stripes to fend off the less-seasoned stars, but the World to win out behind an MVP performance from Wembanyama.
