INGLEWOOD, CA. — NBA All-Star Saturday came in facing some internal and external criticism about the overall state of the weekend and its viability for the future.
Between Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard winning the 3-Point Contest amid his recovery from a ruptured Achilles tendon and Keshad Johnson bringing infectious energy in the Slam Dunk Contest, there were certainly positive moments to be drawn from the night.
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There were, however, plenty of points that deserve a more thorough examination.
But how did the All-Star Saturday fare on the whole?
Here are the winners and losers from Saturday of the 2026 NBA All-Star weekend.
WINNERS
Damian Lillard and his remarkable achievement
I don’t want this to be lost on the casual fan: Damian Lillard is nine-and-a-half months removed from a ruptured Achilles tendon. He’s 35. He had already won the 3-Point Contest two times, but his recovery and rehab had been so monotonous and removed him so far from basketball that he felt he needed to do it.
So he proceeded to score 56 points across both rounds, including 29 in the final round, tying Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only players in history to win the 3-Point Contest three times.
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“I think this was necessary and was needed for the fans,” Lillard told reporters after the event. “… I wanted to be out there because that’s all I can do right now. It was an easy call.”
Keshad Johnson
He danced, he expressed joy and he delivered consistency in what was, frankly, an underwhelming event. But winning the Slam Dunk Contest is still a significant accomplishment, and it can act as a boost to a young player’s career.
Johnson has appeared in 21 games for the Heat and is averaging 3.1 points per game across 7.6 minutes per contest. Winning the event will not convince Erik Spoelstra and the Heat staff to play him more, nor should it. But it will raise Johnson’s profile. All to say: it presents an opportunity that he can seize if he continues to work on his game and improve his all-around skill set.
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LOSERS
The Slam Dunk Contest
This is not meant to take away from the accomplishment of Johnson, who brought infectious energy and high-level difficulty dunks to his routine. And no disrespect intended to the field, overall, but fans have been deprived of the game’s biggest stars and most prolific dunkers from competing in this event.
Possibly, many tuning in across the country had never heard of most of the field, if not all four participants. The NBA, of course, cannot force players to compete in the Slam Dunk Contest, but it needs to increase the incentives so the league’s top dunkers are pushed to participate.
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The last great Dunk Contest was already 10 years ago, in the battle between Aaron Gordon and eventual champion Zach LaVine.
Perhaps we simply have unrealistic expectations of Dunk Contests and we should be okay accepting that not every contest is going to be legendary. That might help some of the angst surrounding this event.
But, at a minimum, fans are entitled to creativity and should want to see things that push the expectations of what dunks can be. That shouldn’t be compromised.
Shooting Stars
It seems the NBA is trying to find a long-term replacement for the Skills Challenge, and this may be a case where less is more. The Slam Dunk Contest and 3-Point Contest are the marquee events of NBA All-Star Saturday, and that feels like it should be enough.
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The Shooting Stars contest was actually pretty close and it did provide some mild excitement late, but, if we’re going to lean in on shooting challenges, I wonder if some form of H.O.R.S.E. might appeal more to the nostalgia fans have.
‘It is what it is at this point’
The messaging to come from some of the game’s brightest stars Saturday during NBA All-Star media day, frankly, was disappointing. And, yes, we acknowledge that All-Star exhibitions across all major North American sports are in peril of teetering toward irrelevance as athletes, understandably, tend to prefer time off and leisure during the middle of seasons that can be intense grinds.
But hearing Anthony Edwards, one of the most dynamic and exciting players in the world, essentially shrug his shoulders when asked about effort isn’t exactly the optics the NBA will want tied to the premier event of the weekend.
He wasn’t alone, and honesty in press conferences is very much appreciated. But it raises questions about whether there are better ways to honor All-Star players that keep and grow fan engagement.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NBA All-Star winners and losers for slam dunk, 3-point contest
