NBA All-Star Game may have found its pulse again

For a moment Sunday, the All-Star Game felt like a real game again.

The tell wasn’t the score or the format. It was Victor Wembanyama stomping off the floor after a blown defensive assignment — in an exhibition.

When Scottie Barnes was left open for a game-winning three in overtime, Wembanyama didn’t shrug it off. He stewed on it.

“It was our second time allowing a three when we shouldn’t have,” he told reporters. “That was disappointing.”

Disappointing. In an All-Star Game.

That word alone told you something had shifted.

Wembanyama didn’t win MVP. Anthony Edwards did. But Edwards admitted afterward that Wembanyama’s presence — the size, the edge, the seriousness — changed the temperature of the entire day.

“Of course I played a part in it,” Wembanyama said. “You don’t want to let the opponent score.”

That attitude spread. Players sprinted back. Fouls were contested. Assignments mattered. Guys argued calls. Nobody was just waiting for the next highlight.

For years, the All-Star Game has been criticized for lacking juice. Sunday showed the fix doesn’t need gimmicks or cash bonuses. It needs stars who actually care.

And that’s where the bigger question creeps in.

With the league nearing the end of the LeBron James–Stephen Curry era, the NBA needs its next centerpiece to want the responsibility. Wembanyama didn’t shy from that idea.

“Being the face of the league,” he said, “it can be manufactured, but only to some extent.”

He’s right. You can’t force it. You can only show it.

On Sunday, Wembanyama did, and the All-Star Game followed.