Inside All-Star Weekend: New Format, New Events, New Hope
All-Star Weekend is the NBA’s annual reminder that basketball is two things at once: a sport and a culture. Some of it is real hoops. Some of it is celebrities, creators, and pure spectacle. And lately, the part that’s supposed to be the “main event” — the All-Star Game — has been the shakiest product of the whole weekend.
That’s why this year feels different. The 75th All-Star Game in Inglewood is now a USA vs. World mini-tournament, designed to create urgency and (ideally) a game that doesn’t look like a Sunday open run.
But the game is only one piece of the weekend. Whether you’re casual or you’ve been locked in since league pass was a DVD, this is the full fan-to-fan guide: what’s happening, when, and why it matters.
All-Star Weekend At A Glance
Thursday, Feb. 12
PlayStation NBA Creator Cup — 10:30 p.m. ET (YouTube & NBA App)
Friday, Feb. 13
7:00 p.m. — Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game (ESPN)
9:00 p.m. — Rising Stars Game 1: Team Melo vs. Team Austin (Peacock)
9:55 p.m. — Rising Stars Game 2: Team Vince vs. Team T-Mac (Peacock)
10:35 p.m. — Rising Stars Championship (Peacock)
11:00 p.m. — NBA HBCU Classic: Hampton vs. North Carolina A&T (Peacock)
Saturday, Feb. 14
1:30 p.m. — NBA All-Star Media Day (NBA App & NBA TV)
4:00 p.m. — Commissioner Adam Silver's News Conference (NBA App & NBA TV)
5:00 p.m. — NBA All-Star Saturday Night: 3-Point Contest → Shooting Stars → Slam Dunk Contest (NBC & Peacock)
Sunday, Feb. 15
2:30 p.m. — NBA G League Next Up Game (NBA App)
5:00 p.m. — All-Star Game 1: Stars vs. World (NBC & Peacock)
5:55 p.m. — All-Star Game 2: Stripes vs. Game 1 Winner (NBC & Peacock)
6:25 p.m. — All-Star Game 3: Stripes vs. Game 1 Loser (NBC & Peacock)
7:10 p.m. — All-Star Championship (NBC & Peacock)
Why The NBA Finally Blew Up The All-Star Game
Let’s not dance around it: the All-Star Game got to a point where it was hard to defend.
A couple years back, the East beat the West 211–186. The final score was the headline, but it wasn’t even the craziest part. Damian Lillard hit 11 threes on the way to 39 points. Karl-Anthony Towns dropped 50. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made seven threes himself. The shot-making was absurd. The skill level was ridiculous. But the defense? It felt optional.
That’s the bind the league’s been stuck in. Fans still want to see the stars together — that part hasn’t changed. There’s still something cool about watching the best players in the world share a floor. But players also aren’t about to risk a hamstring or a knee in mid-February for bragging rights that disappear by Monday morning.
When a product starts looking unserious on national TV, though, that becomes everyone’s problem. The league notices. The networks notice. And fans — especially the die-hards — start rolling their eyes instead of clearing their schedules.
So instead of giving another pregame speech about pride or hoping someone takes it personally, the NBA did the one thing that actually shifts behavior: they changed the structure.
Adam Silver has openly pointed to the energy around recent international-style tournaments (like what the NHL rolled out) as something the league watched closely. There’s something about national or regional pride that flips a different switch.
They don’t just want points. They want tension. They want the building to feel something again on Sunday.
This Could Work
The sneaky advantage of the 12-minute setup is that it doesn’t require players to suddenly care more. It forces the game to move faster.
In a normal All-Star Game, the first half can feel like a photo shoot with a scoreboard. You jog into a pull-up three. You throw a lob because the crowd wants one. You laugh after a blown assignment. And you tell yourself, “We’ll tighten it up later,” and then never do.
In a 12-minute game, there’s nowhere to hide. If you give up four straight layups, you’ve dug a hole that won't be easy to climb out of. If you float two lazy passes, that could literally swing who advances to the final. You don’t need playoff intensity. You just need 12 minutes of juice.
Point differential adds another layer. In a traditional All-Star game, if you’re up 10 with two minutes left, it becomes logo-range heat-check time. Nobody’s thinking about how close it is. In a round-robin where the final spot could come down to margin of victory, you can’t completely shut off the competitive wiring. A careless stretch suddenly has consequences.
Saturday Night: The Events That Can Still Carry The Weekend
Saturday is usually the safest bet of All-Star Weekend. It’s not perfect — the dunk contest has been fighting the “where are the superstars?” question for years now — but structurally, Saturday still works. The events are clean. They’re simple. They don’t rely on defense or pride speeches. It’s you, the clock, and the rim.
The three-point contest and the dunk contest are part of the league’s DNA. Even when they wobble, they’re still appointment viewing. Because at their best, they create moments that live way longer than the final score on Sunday.
State Farm 3-Point Contest: The Real Main Event
I’m just going to say what a lot of fans already feel: the 3-Point Contest is the best product of the weekend.
It’s pure. It doesn’t need fake intensity. Nobody has to worry about getting injured. Effort doesn’t change the result here. Either you make shots or you don’t.
The 2026 field:
Devin Booker
Kon Knueppel
Damian Lillard
Tyrese Maxey
Donovan Mitchell
Jamal Murray
Bobby Portis Jr.
Norman Powell
There’s real juice on that list.
Lillard is the headline because he’s chasing history. He’s already a two-time winner, and a third title would tie Larry Bird and Craig Hodges for the most ever. That’s rare company.
Mitchell brings a different kind of pressure. He leads the league with 180 made threes this season, and this contest rewards guys who are already living in that volume-and-rhythm world.
Portis might be the quiet sleeper. He’s shooting 45.1% from three this season. If he finds a groove early, he’s absolutely capable of hanging a big number.
Booker, Murray, and Maxey are the “don’t forget about me” guys. All three can catch fire and take this whole thing.
And then there’s Knueppel, the rookie wild card. Every few years, someone uses this stage to announce themselves to a broader audience. No rookie has ever won it. If he pulls it off, that’s how you go from “nice young shooter” to “household name” in about three minutes.
Shooting Stars: Nostalgia, Family Ties, And Quick Chaos
Shooting Stars is back for the first time since 2015, and the league clearly leaned into identity when building it. School ties. Franchise ties. Family ties.
Four teams, each with two active players and one legend:
Team All-Star: Scottie Barnes, Chet Holmgren, Richard Hamilton
Team Cameron: Jalen Johnson, Kon Knueppel, Corey Maggette
Team Harper: Ron Harper Sr., Dylan Harper, Ron Harper Jr.
Team Knicks: Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Allan Houston
Team Knicks is the easiest sell. Brunson and Towns sharing a weekend spotlight, with Allan Houston — one of the smoothest shooters the franchise ever had — standing there as a reminder of a different era. Knicks fans will absolutely eat that up.
But the real All-Star Weekend magic will be Team Harper. A father and two sons in the same event isn’t some overproduced storyline. It’s just cool.
Slam Dunk Contest: The Biggest Question Mark
The dunk contest is the most volatile event of the weekend. When it hits, it’s electric. When it misses, you feel it immediately.
Right now, it’s built around athletes who want the stage, not established superstars. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — sometimes hunger produces better creativity than comfort — but it does mean that things can get realatively broing in a hurry.
The field:
Carter Bryant
Jaxson Hayes
Keshad Johnson
Jase Richardson
Jase Richardson is the clearest storyline because of the legacy angle. His dad, Jason Richardson, was a two-time dunk contest champion and one of the smoothest in-game leapers of his generation. If Jase shows up with creativity and power, the building will lean in immediately.
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