The NBA has been trying to get players to show a commitment to the All-Star Game for several years. Last season, they changed the format to four teams, yet the result was the same. Players do not show any effort and only jack up threes. Fans were mad that there were more commercials than actual game played. So, this season, the NBA is trying something new, something that fans have been advocating for years.
For the first time since 2020, the NBA will have two USA teams competing against a World Team during the All-Star Game in a round-robin format. But who should make that World Team? Can they beat the USA?
Former All-Star Names Nearly Unbeatable World Team
Former All-Star Lauri Markkanen was recently asked the question about who should make the All-Star World Team. Looking at his picks, we can safely say it is almost unbeatable. They have everything: offense, defense, high-IQ players, and clutch scorers.
Speaking on the matter, Markkanen named the following five players: Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Asked about players like Franz Wagner and Alperen Sengun, he talked about the battle for the remaining spots. He said:
“I think there’s a lot of European talent. Obviously, Wagner is one of them. There are no bad options there. I think it’s a list of really good players, and it’s going to come down to team success and how players perform in each and every year. And so I think the format is going to be fun to compete against the USA teams, and we’ll see who makes the team.”
As the last FIBA EuroBasket showed, there is plenty of NBA talent in Europe. And there is a lot of NBA talent in Australia and Canada as well. The world is catching up with the USA Basketball team. The only good news for the Americans and their hope of a gold at the 2028 Olympics is that there is not a single team with more than two great NBA players.
Why Team World Might Dominate Team USA
Looking at the five players that Markkanen named, they won six of the last seven NBA regular-season MVP awards. Three of them—Jokic, Giannis, and SGA—have a Finals MVP on their resume as well. Luka Doncic has also finished in the top five of MVP voting a few times.
At the same time, Wemby was a leading candidate for a Defensive Player of the Year Award last season until he was sidelined due to a blood clot. Giannis has a DPOY on his resume. To put it simply, the World Team looks much stronger than any All-Star team that the USA can put together. Yes, there might be a team of veterans like Steph Curry, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant. But the young American stars are not at the level of foreign stars.
Last season at the All-Star break, Team Shaq, with Curry as the MVP, beat Team Chuck, which had players like Jokic and Wemby on it. But a team with Luka, SGA, Giannis, and Wemby? That might be a different story.
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