“The NBA says about 70% of players in the league are American, meaning it therefore will be easier for international players to make an All-Star roster in a U.S. vs. the world-style competition.”
Last week, when Shams Charania shared news of yet-another new All-Star game format, he included this sentence.
The new setup calls for 24 All-Stars to be, oddly, divided into three teams: two from the U.S. and one from the entire rest of the world combined. I don’t care much about All-Star weekend, nor will I watch. But this doesn’t sit well with me.
We’re decades into not caring where an All-Star was born. It’s not a meritocracy, exactly–scorers and fan favorites make it over defenders and winners. (One year Yao Ming made it even though he didn’t play.)
Now, all of a sudden, it matters. And the NBA is taking the position that this change helps overseas players.
I’ll just say that looking ahead to this particular season, the 2025-2026 season … I doubt it. It very much seems to me that the league is top-heavy with international players. Vegas’s top four candidates to win the 2026 NBA MVP are all from overseas:
Nikola Jokić is the best player in the world.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the reigning champion, MVP, and Finals MVP.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is a former MVP with a lot to prove.
Luka Dončić is my pick to win this year’s MVP.
When healthy, Joel Embiid belongs among those four. I’m not sure how to rate his likelihood of playing in this game, but let’s say that his odds of playing and playing well are akin to the odds of one of those four missing the game due to injury. In other words, four spots are not just filled, but filled.
That leaves four open spots on the international team, and wow is it hard to choose:
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