Since the pandemic shut down sports around the world, All-Star games in all four major sports leagues have taken a hit in terms of player participation and overall draw. NBA players have treated the weekend like a joke, turning an event that is supposed to showcase the league’s best players into a train wreck. Fast forward to 2026, many considered this past event to be the best in years. However, it didn’t come without its flaws. Let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly of the 2026 NBA All-Star weekend.
Before we touch on this year’s All-Star weekend, it’s important to give context as to why the event has set such a low bar since the world was shut down six years ago.
First, and arguably the most popular part of the weekend, is the dunk contest. What should be the highlight has turned into a sloppy and unoriginal display of repeat or underwhelming dunks that make the players look bad in the process. You can only do so many dunks, and after decades of the contest, dunk fatigue is starting to show. It was a decade ago when Aaron Gordon and Zach LaVine had their iconic matchup at the same event, and since then, nobody has been able to replicate the magic those two brought to the stage.
Unfortunately, the trend continued into 2026 with this year’s dunk contest potentially marking the grave of the event with one of the most embarrassing performances to date. Yes, the dunks were bad, but the contest also featured players whom many fans didn’t even know. Gone are the days of Michael Jordan vs Dominique Wilkins; nowadays, you are lucky to get a single All-Star to participate, and even when they do, things usually don’t turn out well.
The contest is becoming repetitive. The format remains the same and fans are losing interest as each year goes by. It will be interesting to see if Commissioner Adam Silver will completely revamp the show, leave it the way it is and continue to embarrass the league, or take it out of the weekend as a whole.
The third option, though not the most likely, would allow for a new event to fill in for its absence and let audiences forget about the dunk contest. This would let the league implement the contest back into the weekend some years down the line, hyping up its return with new stars in the process.
Regardless of what they do with it, the dunk contest was a major lowlight this year in a weekend otherwise filled with improvements.
The three-point contest was the first bright spot on Saturday, as it climaxed in a surprising win from Damian Lillard. The Trail-Blazer entered the contest having not played a single game so far this year as he continues to recover from a torn Achilles, yet he still managed to beat the entire field on one leg. Lillard is one of the best three-point shooters of all time, yet he somehow turns into a whole other monster when he steps onto the All-Star stage.
The challenge itself was fun. It was nothing outstanding, but it’s always fun seeing the world’s best shooters go out and chuck up threes on a time crunch with absolute precision. Unlike the dunk contest, the three-point challenge usually hosts big names, with Steph Curry, Devin Booker and Klay Thompson being previous winners. The presence of stars always makes the event feel more intense. This intensity was present in the finals between Booker and Lillard in this year’s contest as the two all-time shooters dueled it out.
Lillard captured his record, earning the third three-point challenge crown while tying Larry Bird and Graig Hodges at the top of the list. For a game that’s hard to mess up, 2026’s event had more than enough entertainment value to keep fans glued to their screens.
Next, to replace the skills challenge was the returning shooting stars challenge, a beloved game that fans were clamouring to see return after its last appearance in 2015. It was another instance of fun mixed with some creativity from the production side of things. Each team participating in the shooting challenge featured a player from the past mixed with two current players to form a band of young and old talent that kept the event feeling fresh. Team Knicks (Jalen Brunson, Karl Anthony Towns and Allan Houston) came out on top, providing the Los Angeles crowd with some memorable moments for the return of the illustrious event.
There isn’t much to say other than how fun the challenge was; all the participating athletes looked like they cared and wanted to put on a show for the audience.
Finally, the All-Star game(s) took up most of the run time with its new and improved format that saw a tournament-style of games between Teams World, Stripes and Stars. In the past six years, the main event turned from a competitive game between conferences to a lackadaisical shoot-around mixed with some pretty plays.
This year, however, the players took the new format and ran with it. Most players were playing with effort and looked like they cared about winning — something that hasn’t been seen for a while. Kawhi Leonard was showing out, making defensive plays left and right, shooting some tough shots and even displaying some uncharacteristic emotion.
What surprised fans the most was the defensive intensity from all the players down the stretch of games. The finals featured Stripes versus Stars, a matchup of the older and younger talent around the league.
This game did not disappoint whatsoever.
Clashes between Anthony Edwards and Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Cade Cunningham were the stuff of dreams for audience members in attendance. In the previous game of Stars vs World, it was the OGs that got hot late and sent the foreigners packing.
When it came down to the last game, it was the youngsters who came away with the trophy. Many were quick to rule out this team as one of the weakest All-Star teams in history when it was first announced. Edwards had something to say about that, taking home the M.V.P. of the games, dropping 32 points across three 12-minute games.
It was a great way to close out the weekend, and many fans were left with a bittersweet taste in their mouths considering the weekend.
A historically bad dunk contest, a fun three-point shootout, an entertaining shooting stars contest and a return to form for the All-Star game culminated in an overall improvement for the weekend. If Silver and his team can build off of this year and shake up some new games or events, All-Star weekend can be a historic one next year.