{"id":293538,"date":"2026-02-16T04:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T04:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/293538\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T04:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T04:01:10","slug":"wembanyamas-opening-tip-intensity-and-how-yet-another-nba-all-star-format-may-have-clicked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/293538\/","title":{"rendered":"Wembanyama’s opening-tip intensity, and how yet another NBA All-Star format may have clicked"},"content":{"rendered":"

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Victor Wembanyama<\/a> brought the energy from opening tip of the NBA<\/a> All-Star Game, and it proved infectious.<\/p>\n

Some were crediting the 7-foot-5 San Antonio Spurs<\/a> star for doing more to save the midseason showcase in mere minutes than anything the league has done in years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty good display of basketball,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cBetter than last year, in my opinion. It was fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wembanyama had been confident going in that setting the tone with competitive fire would make a difference in the league’s 75th annual showcase on Sunday at Intuit Dome, the Los Angeles Clippers’ year-old arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you share that energy,” he said, “people feel like they have a responsibility to share it back to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year featured yet another new format. Two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players competed in a round-robin tournament consisting of three 12-minute games, all of which had exciting finishes. The top two teams by record advanced to the title game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked it,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be against this format in the future, and I wouldn\u2019t be against the regular East versus West either.\u201d <\/p>\n

The U.S. Stars team beat the U.S. Stripes 47-21 for the championship, with Anthony Edwards<\/a> earning MVP honors.<\/p>\n

Retired Spurs player Manu Ginobili on X called it the \u201cmost fun NBA All-Star Game in a loooong time!\u201d<\/p>\n

World team player Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> said, \u201cI feel that after today I think you all can see the competition is there, and I think that we all brought it today and a sense of effort. I hope that the fans and all of you appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first All-Star Game in 1951 debuted an East vs. West format that continued until 2018, when it was replaced with a player draft, where that year\u2019s top vote-getters acted as captains and selected their teams from the pool of available starters, regardless of conference.<\/p>\n

That lasted until 2024, when East vs. West returned for one year.<\/p>\n

Last year, in San Francisco, the game was played tournament-style, with three eight-player teams and a fourth team of rising stars. Games were played to 40 points to decide a winner.<\/p>\n

Next year a U.S. vs the rest of the world format is on tap for the game in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> forward Deni Avdija<\/a>, who is from Israel and played on the World team, called the latest change a fun format.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are about to understand that it\u2019s fun watching the All-Star Game,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a little more competitive, try to bring it back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boston Celtics<\/a> fan Siddakk Chatrah was initially skeptical of a new format that wasn’t easily explainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first game Wemby and some other international stars brought the energy, and Anthony Edwards matched them,\u201d said Chatrah, who was at his first All-Star Game. \u201cThen these young dudes brought the energy to LeBron, KD, they stepped up. It’s a better watching experience at a way better level than I could have imagined. Yeah, it\u2019s a little confusing, but I think they might have found something they can tweak a little more.”<\/p>\n

Even Kawhi Leonard<\/a> was a bit unsure of how things worked. Cheered by his home fans, the Los Angeles Clippers superstar scored 31 points and shot 84% from the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven as the game\u2019s going on, trying to figure out the records for being 2-1 and how you play that out as well. Is it like by points? How many? Point spread or what?\u201d he said. \u201cI thought it was good, but I still think going back to East-West will be great. I think guys will compete still.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of being played in the evening, the event was held in mid-afternoon \u2014 ideal in attracting younger viewers \u2014 so NBC could feature the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in prime time.<\/p>\n

Jaylen Brown<\/a> likes the idea of adding a 1-on-1 competition to All-Star weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reminds me of the purity of the game. Like, it\u2019s just mano y mano,\u201d the Boston Celtics guard said. \u201cYou got people on the court talking trash. You got to be an offensive and a defensive player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown took the idea further, suggesting players could challenge each other to 1-on-1 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some people I would love to challenge,” he said. “We could donate to whatever charity. Let’s set it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detroit’s Cade Cunningham<\/a> has played under different formats in each of his first two years as an All-Star. He’d like to try the traditional East vs. West format. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be able to experience what all the greats played in and everything,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m just playing the cards I was dealt. I\u2019m sure it will come back eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Count LeBron James<\/a> among its fans, even if the 41-year-old isn’t around to see a potential return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the East and West format,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Victor Wembanyama brought the energy from opening tip of the NBA All-Star Game, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[122966,69925,42,141612,144044,43,67978,149046,40,38,41,39,104782],"class_list":{"0":"post-293538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-boston-celtics","9":"tag-deni-avdija","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-jaylen-brown","12":"tag-national-basketball-association","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","15":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories","20":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}