{"id":607861,"date":"2026-02-17T09:54:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/607861\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T09:54:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:54:36","slug":"nba-all-stars-on-whether-they-liked-new-usa-vs-world-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/607861\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA All-Stars on whether they liked new USA vs. World format"},"content":{"rendered":"

As scrutiny over the NBA All-Star Game<\/a> swirled, Anthony Edwards<\/a> expressed skepticism that this year\u2019s new format would finally improve the level of competitiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is what it is at this point,\u201d Edwards, 24, said a day before the game at Los Angeles\u2019 Intuit Dome.<\/p>\n

But Sunday\u2019s USA vs. World competition<\/a> proved to be a success \u2014 and Edwards was among those to rave about it afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like this format,\u201d the Minnesota Timberwolves star said. \u201cI think it makes us compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday marked the debut of the latest All-Star Game format, which pitted top U.S. players against international NBA stars in a round-robin mini-tournament.<\/p>\n

Three teams \u2014 Team Stars, Team Stripes and World \u2014 competed against each other over four, 12-minute games, with Edwards\u2019 Team Stars emerging as the event\u2019s champion.<\/p>\n

Edwards collected MVP honors after totaling 32 points on 13-for-22 shooting with nine rebounds, but he credited Victor Wembanyama of the World team for establishing the intensity level.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe set the tone. It was definitely competitive with all three teams,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI feel like the old heads played hard, too. They were playing real good defense. But [Wembanyama] set the tone, man, and it woke me up for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traditionally, the All-Star Game has featured a single 48-minute game, with stars from the Eastern Conference facing stars from the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

But interest in that format waned as defense and effort became increasingly sparse, and the game hit rock bottom in 2024 when the East beat the West, 211-186.<\/p>\n

The NBA has tinkered with different ideas in recent years, including in 2025 when it debuted a four-team mini-tournament.<\/p>\n

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hoped competing for national pride in this year\u2019s USA vs. World format would serve as a motivator for players \u2014 and it seemed to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty good display of basketball. Better than last year, in my opinion,\u201d the French-born Wembanyama said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a game we love. It\u2019s a game I personally cherish. So being competitive is the least I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The format was partly inspired by golf\u2019s Ryder Cup and partly by hockey\u2019s well-received 4 Nations Face-Off, a nine-day tournament between the U.S., Canada, Finland and Sweden that replaced last year\u2019s NHL All-Star Game.<\/p>\n

The NBA divided its 28 All-Stars (including injury replacements) into three teams, with Team Stripes made up of veteran U.S. players, Team Stars composed of younger U.S. stars, and World starring the likes of Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Wembanyama.<\/p>\n

The round-robin games yielded plenty of intrigue.<\/p>\n

Team Stars versus World went to overtime before the prior prevailed.<\/p>\n

Team Stripes\u2019 De\u2019Aaron Fox drilled a game-winning 3-pointer to defeat Team Stars.<\/p>\n

And Kawhi Leonard erupted for 31 points on 11-of-13 shooting in 12 minutes to lead Team Stripes past World.<\/p>\n

The sprier Team Stars then routed Team Stripes, 47-21, in the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was definitely a step up in the competitive department compared to last season,\u201d said Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant, who competed for Team Stripes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intensity to start the games was good. Both teams were competing and playing defense. \u2026 I think we did what we\u2019re supposed to do for the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, not everyone was sold on the global format replacing East vs. West for good.<\/p>\n

Speaking before the game, 22-time All-Star LeBron James voiced his affinity for the traditional set-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world is gigantic over the U.S., so just trying to figure out how that makes sense, but I don\u2019t want to dive too much into that,\u201d James said. \u201cEast-West is great. We\u2019ll see what happens with this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard shared a similar preference after totaling 37 points and nine rebounds over 34 minutes in Sunday\u2019s festivities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was good, but I still think going back to East-West will be great. I think guys will compete still,\u201d Leonard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the format is making us play well, then we can keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As scrutiny over the NBA All-Star Game swirled, Anthony Edwards expressed skepticism that this year\u2019s new format would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[375,7,529,938,185,307,152,3954,6,7218,308,80252,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-607861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-anthony-edwards","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-kawhi-leonard","11":"tag-kevin-durant","12":"tag-lebron-james","13":"tag-minnesota","14":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","15":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nba-all-star-game","18":"tag-timberwolves","19":"tag-usa-vs-world","20":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116085369321210867","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}