For the second year in a row, the NBA has changed its format as the 2026 NBA All-Star Game tips off on Sunday. This year's event will feature a United States vs. World format, with two teams being made up with players from the U.S., and one made up of international players. The teams will then compete in a round-robin tournament with four 12-minute games. In the tournament, USA Stars will play Team World in Game 1 at 5 p.m. ET at Intuit Arena in Inglewood, Calif. Team World is the 3.5-point favorite on FanDuel. USA Stars will then take on USA Stripes in Game 2 at 5:35 p.m. ET, with USA Stripes a 2.5-point favorite.
That will be followed by USA Stripes meeting Team World in Game 3 at 6:10 p.m. ET, with Team World the 2.5-point favorite. After Game 3, the top two teams by record will advance to face each other in the championship game. If all three teams have a 1-1 record after Game 3, the tiebreaker would be point differential in each team's two round-robin games. Team World is the +120 favorite to win it all, followed by USA Stripes (+190) and USA Stars (+220). The All-Star Game MVP favorite is Victor Wembanyama (+270) followed by Jaylen Brown (+850). Pascal Siakam (+4500) and Jalen Johnson (+4500) are the biggest MVP longshots.
Before making any 2026 NBA All-Star Game picks, you'll want to see what elite NBA expert Mike Barner has to say.
Barner is one of the most respected voices in the industry, and his work has appeared in Sports Illustrated and on Yahoo, RotoWire and KFFL. He's also been featured on ESPN Radio. He digs deep into the data, examining team trends and projecting game outcomes. If there's anybody who can spot an edge in a matchup or identify a player in position to break out, it's him.
Barner's expertise has been on full display lately. He is on an amazing 40-17 run on NBA picks, returning $2,014 to $100 players.
Now, he has analyzed the 2026 NBA All-Star Game from all angles and is delivering his picks for SportsLine. We can tell you Barner is fading Team Stripes, despite it having veteran players whose games are tailor-made for an All-Star Game, like Jaylen Brown and Kevin Durant.
Barner has broken down every round-robin matchup and identified the critical x-factors that give one team an edge! You ABSOLUTELY need to see it before locking in any picks of your own.
So who wins the 2026 NBA All-Star Game, and what critical X-factor do you need to know about? ... Join SportsLine right now to get Sunday's NBA All-Star Game pick, all from the SportsLine expert who is up over $2,000 on NBA picks!
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Written by Daniel Kohn
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