Wembanyama vows to bring competitiveness to All-Star Game - ESPN

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The last time San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama faced a team stacked with American All-Stars, France and USA played a gold medal game for the ages at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

With the NBA introducing a new All-Star Game format this weekend, hoping to tap into that competitive spirit by breaking up the participants into two teams of Americans and players from around the world — rather than the traditional East-West rosters — Wembanyama vowed to do his part to make Sunday's game count.

«Exclamation-point plays, playing in a solid manner and sharing the ball with energy,» Wembanyama said Saturday when asked how he planned to set a competitive tone. «If you share that energy, people feel like they have a responsibility to share it back to you.»

After the past few All-Star Games barely resembled an NBA basketball game — with the East's 211-186 win in 2024 in Indianapolis representing the exhibition's nadir, especially considering that result followed Hall of Famers Larry Bird and Julius «Dr. J» Irving addressing the players pregame and urging them to take the game more seriously — Wembanyama said this year will be different.

«I'm confident in the way it's going to go,» Wembanyama said.

Some American stars weren't so sure.

When Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, who played in that gold medal game in Paris, was asked if All-Star could duplicate that intensity in anyway, he replied flatly, «No.»

When asked to elaborate, the four-time All-Star, playing on the younger USA Stars team, said, «That was the Olympics. It's just that simple.»

Kevin Durant, a 16-time All-Star playing on the veteran USA Stripes team, said that the NBA All-Star Game has never been as competitive now as it is