{"id":177995,"date":"2026-02-17T07:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=177995"},"modified":"2026-02-17T01:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T06:59:08","slug":"victor-wembanyama-saved-all-star-game-but-not-how-everyone-thinks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/17\/victor-wembanyama-saved-all-star-game-but-not-how-everyone-thinks\/","title":{"rendered":"Wemby Saved the All-Star Game, But Not How Everyone Thinks"},"content":{"rendered":"

We just had the best All-Star Game\/Championship in recent memory. After years of switching formats, the NBA finally succeeded with some competitive play. San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama<\/a> was unsurprisingly key to this effort. He had a strong performance off the bench in last year’s All-Star Championship before his untimely season-ending injury was diagnosed shortly after. This year, he was able to start and scored in six seconds after winning the opening tip in his first match.<\/p>\n

“I ain’t going to lie. Wemby set the tone,” Timberwolves guard and All-Star MVP Anthony Edwards<\/a> said<\/a> of him later.<\/p>\n

Wemby Saved the All-Star Game, But Not How Everyone Thinks<\/h2>\n

Victor Wembanyama’s Performance<\/h3>\n

Similar to last year, Wembanyama graced the floor for two separate games. With his additional minutes as a starter, he was able to set the tone against the other team early and led his team in made shots in both games. This aggressive approach put pressure on both the opponent and teammates alike. No one wants to end up being posterized or blocked by Wemby. Just ask Cade Cunningham<\/a>, who was stuck in the paint with Wemby at the beginning of Stars vs. World.<\/p>\n

Despite this intensity, Team World lost both games. Even crazier is that both losses came from opponent’s hitting game-winning shots. One of these shots sent a clearly upset Wemby walking off toward his coaches. The source of this frustration could have been with teammates not rotating towards Scottie Barnes<\/a> quickly enough. Barnes hit his only made shot right then to seal the game and spoil Wembanyama’s night.<\/p>\n

Kawhi Leonard’s Insane Outing<\/h3>\n

The highlight of the night was Kawhi Leonard<\/a> scoring 31 points in 12 minutes. To do this during a regular season game would have been insane, but he did this in the All-Star Championship. Leonard looked as good if not better than when he was on the Spurs and is clearly having a career resurgence. But the reason we can’t prove this is because of Wemby’s effort having an effect on him.<\/p>\n

Leonard had gone for 30 points in the past in these games, however that was in 20 minutes. It was likely poor team defense that gave him the opportunity to go off and do something he had never done before.<\/p>\n

\"Feb
Feb 15, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Team USA Stripes forward Kawhi Leonard (2) of the LA Clippers controls the ball against Team World center Victor Wembanyama (1) of the San Antonio Spurs in game three during the 75th NBA All Star Game at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic are Part of the Problem and the Solution<\/h3>\n

Kevin Durant<\/a>, before his alleged burner-account leaked<\/a>, was already stirring the pot. “…Let’s look at Luka Doncic<\/a> and Nikola Jokic<\/a> and what they do at the All-Star Game… Is that competition?” Durant asked reporters<\/a> at a press conference recently. Durant isn’t wrong about what he is implying. These international stars have had their fair share of neglectful defense during the All-Star Break. Obviously, it isn’t just them, though.<\/p>\n

Team World’s defense was terrible. Take away Victor Wembanyama and Pascal Siakam<\/a> and you are left with a team of stars who either won’t try defensively or just straight up are not good. Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> is not a good rim protector, neither is Alperen Sengun<\/a>. Deni Avdija<\/a> is often praised for his defense but has not been anywhere near as good this year when compared to last year.<\/p>\n

Doncic has already been mentioned, but it should also be noted that Jamal Murray<\/a> and Nikola Jokic combined for zero points in their game against Team Stars. It should also be mentioned that most of Team World’s players completely phoned through the motions on defense, pretending to fight for rebounds and moving out of their opponent’s way in the paint.<\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/h3>\n

But how does this unbalance help make the games relatively good? Because you get great individual performances that people will remember. Not only does Wembanyama have to shine to make up for his teammates sleepwalking on defense, but with him lurking in the paint, players like Kawhi Leonard may have a better time playing iso than playing unselfish basketball. If anything, right outside the paint is Kawhi’s bread and butter.<\/p>\n

Were any of these games actually good? No, but we got closer to something that was entertaining. At its peak, the All-Star Game was the best game of pick-up in the world. Now, seeing at least two or three players on the court actively trying is considered a win.<\/p>\n

In summary, the All-Star Game is better when it is Wembanyama vs. five players than when it is two teams that are completely balanced by how little they care competing against each other.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We just had the best All-Star Game\/Championship in recent memory. After years of switching formats, the NBA finally succeeded with some competitive play. San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama was unsurprisingly key to this effort. He had a strong performance off the bench in last year’s All-Star Championship before his untimely season-ending injury was diagnosed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5757,"featured_media":178008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,34],"tags":[2109,3965,168,2815,3852,4669],"class_list":["post-177995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-spurs","tag-anthony-edwards","tag-cade-cunningham","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-nba-all-star-game","tag-scottie-barnes","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5757"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177995"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178010,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177995\/revisions\/178010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}