So, who got snubbed?
That’s always the question to pose once NBA All-Stars – and each conference’s starters – are announced.
On Monday, Jan. 19, the NBA unveiled the East and West starters for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game, which will take place Feb. 15 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. The league used a weighted system to select starters, with the fan vote accounting for 50%, and NBA players and media accounting for 25%, respectively. Each player then generated a weighted score, and the Top 5 players from each conference, regardless of position, were named starters.
Here are the winners and losers from the selection of starters for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game:
WINNERS
Jaylen Brown
Though he is a five-time All-Star, Brown had always been overshadowed by fellow Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum. Not this year. With Tatum sidelined with a torn Achilles, Brown has not only emerged as a legitimate No. 1 option and a first-time All-Star starter, but he has also put himself squarely in the conversation for Most Valuable Player. That Brown is also doing this after Boston moved on from established stars Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis further illustrates his rise. He’s averaging 29.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists this season.
Jalen Brunson
There’s no question Brunson is one of the elite players in the NBA and one of the steadiest closers. And though Brunson cleared the threshold with ease — his weighted score of 3.25 ranked fourth among East players and was 2.75 points greater than Donovan Mitchell, the No. 6 player on the list — he probably got a boost that New York players often get. The Knicks are a blue-chip franchise with a gargantuan following, so their stars tend to get elevated. Make no mistake: Brunson is a deserving All-Star. But with a roster of talented guards in the East, his case to start was thinner than the end result indicated.
Victor Wembanyama
There’s no denying the impact Wembanyama has on the floor, but the San Antonio Spurs are actually 10-4 in games he didn’t play. That record, though, shouldn’t be skewed; he’s certainly worthy of the starter nod, but he got by on the slimmest of margins, on a fan vote tiebreaker (more on that later). Wembanyama just turned 22 on Jan. 4 and is making his second All-Star appearance. He’s only getting better and is in the MVP conversation. His days of starting in All-Stars are only beginning.
Tyrese Maxey
Another first-time starter, Maxey’s rise this season shows how he’s assuming control of the Philadelphia 76ers franchise. Although Joel Embiid, the 2022-23 Most Valuable Player, is slowly returning to form, this is Maxey’s team, and he’s quickly becoming one of the elite scoring guards in the NBA – one with seemingly limitless shooting range.
LOSERS
LeBron James
Chances are, James will still be an All-Star and will extend his record streak to 22 consecutive nominations. But for the first time in 21 years, James was not named a starter in the All-Star Game. James missed the first 14 games of the season with a right sciatica issue, and the Los Angeles Lakers have managed his playing time in back-to-backs since then. James, who turned 41 in late December, is reimagining the standard for players his age. His points (22.6 per game) and rebounds (5.9) are the lowest they have been since his rookie season (20.9 and 5.5), but James remains a threat for the Lakers. Still, all good things come to an end.
Anthony Edwards
This is the biggest snub of the day. Edwards’ 29.6 points per game rank fifth in the NBA. He’s a dynamic, three-level scorer and is one of the premier walking highlights this league has. His biggest problem here is that the person who took his spot, Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama, is exactly the same. Edwards and Wembanyama received the same weighted score of 5.75, which triggered a tiebreaker. Edwards lost that because his fan vote (1,960,957) was just 4,505 votes fewer than Wembanyama’s total. Stats don’t paint the entire picture because Wembanyama’s impact as a defender is immense, but, just for comparison’s sake, he’s averaging 24.5 points per game.
Donovan Mitchell
He was the first out in the field for starters in the East and very easily could’ve made a case to start. Entering Monday, Mitchell ranked seventh in the NBA in scoring, dropping 29.2 points per game. Even then, the margin between him and Jaylen Brown, the fourth player on the list, was just 0.5 points per game. His scoring clip is a career high, and his assists numbers (5.7) are just behind his all-time high of 6.1. The Cavaliers, though, started slowly, which almost certainly impacted his voting numbers.
Jalen Johnson
Will Johnson be an All-Star? Almost certainly yes. Did he deserve to start? Perhaps. Johnson is the victim of playing in a smaller market, for a team that has struggled to reach relevance in recent seasons. The Hawks are 20-24 (10th in the East), but Johnson is averaging nearly a triple-double, putting up 22.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game. Johnson is more of an all-around player than Jalen Brunson, though Johnson’s defensive intensity has fallen off in recent seasons.
