When asked Wednesday if he and other members of USA Stripes plan to play hard in Sunday’s 2026 NBA All-Star Game, Houston Rockets superstar forward Kevin Durant turned the attention to Team World, led by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić and Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić.

Given the All-Star track record of Jokić and Dončić, Durant questioned the rationale behind asking if the American “old heads” are going to give it their all.

“You should ask the Europeans and the World team if they’re going to compete,” Durant said. “If you look at Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić now, let’s go back and look at what they do in the All-Star Game. Is that competition? So, we haven’t questioned what they’ve been doing. But we’re going to question the old heads, and the Americans.

“But these two dudes out there, Luka and Jokić, they don’t care about the game at all. These dudes be laying on the floor. They’re shooting from half court. But you’ve got to worry about the old heads playing hard? I can read between the lines, bro. It’s just an overall topic that everybody’s been talking about.”

KD is part of a veteran-laden team in the All-Star Game, as he (37 years old), Lakers forward LeBron James (41) and Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (34) are the three oldest players participating in the event.

Although All-Star Games are old hat for Durant, James and Leonard given that they have been selected to a combined 45 of them, KD’s comments suggest they don’t intend to lollygag.

Durant doesn’t seem to be expecting the same effort level out of Team World, as he even expressed some doubt over San Antonio Spurs superstar center Victor Wembanyama taking the game seriously, telling reporters, “He said that last year, too. They said it was the worst All-Star Game that people watched. So, we’re going to see. Who knows what’s going to happen? This format might change the game, but who knows? We’ll see.”

While the NBA All-Star Game has long been predicated on offense, complaints have grown in recent years regarding the quality of the game with next to no effort being exerted on the defensive end.

In an attempt to potentially light a fire under the players and get their competitive juices flowing, the All-Star Game format was changed this year to a round-robin tournament involving two teams comprised entirely of American players, and one team of players representing other countries across the world.

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, it seemed as though the rest of the world was starting to close the gap on the United States’ dominance in men’s basketball.

Although Team USA won a fifth consecutive gold medal, Jokić-led Serbia and Wembanyama-led France pushed the Americans to the limit in the semifinals and finals, respectively.

Those games were two of the greatest displays of basketball any fan will ever see, but they were played with Olympic glory on the line.

The stakes are nowhere near as high when it comes to the NBA All-Star Game, and that may be why Durant is skeptical regarding just how competitive it will actually be.