NBA All-Star Saturday, 2026 is in the books. Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers won the three-point shooting contest. The shooting stars competition was claimed by Jalen Brunson and the representatives of the New York Knicks. Keshad Johnson of the Miami Heat took the slam dunk contest.
Here’s a summary of how the latter two events went.
KIA Shooting Stars Competition
The 2026 KIA Shooting Stars competition consisted of four teams, each team made up of two current NBA players and one NBA legend. Each player on every team rotated
through seven indicated spots on the court. Each spot represented a shot of increasing difficulty. Four of the locations were worth two points, two were good for 3 points, while the final spot well beyond the top of the key went for four points. Each team was limited to 70 seconds. If any time remained after all three players attempted their shots from the final deep spot, players could continue to shoot from there to continue to accumulate as many points as possible before time expired.
In the first round, Team Knicks—Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and former Knicks player and current Vice President of Player Leadership and Development, Allan Houston—put up the highest score with 27.
Joining them in the final round was Team Cameron, a trio of Duke University alums, who recorded a score of 24.
Eliminated from the first round was Team All-Star, made up by current All-Stars Scottie Barnes and Chet Holmgren, joined by three-time All-Star Richard Hamilton. Also missing out on the final round was Team Harper, an all-in-the family affair with five-time champ Ron Harper Sr. teaming up with sons Dylan Harper and Ron Harper, Jr.
In the final round, Team Cameron put up a seemingly strong score of 38. Team Knicks rapidly cycled through their spots, leaving plenty of time to shoot from the final spot. This turned out to be key as they were able to put up shot after shot, making enough of them to overtake Team Cameron and finish with an impressive 47.
AT&T Slam Dunk Contest
The AT&T Slam Dunk contest followed a familiar format from last year. Four players made up the field, with each attempting two dunks in the first round in front of five judges. Each judge issued a score between 40 and 50. The average of the five scores was the final score for that individual dunk.
Each participant was limited to 90 seconds and a maximum of three attempts per dunk. The dunkers with the two highest cumulative scores in the first round advanced to the final round, consisting of two more dunks.
The four participants in the dunk contest were:
Carter Bryant—San Antonio Spurs
Jase Richardson—Orlando Magic
Jaxson Hayes—Los Angeles Lakers
Keshad Johnson—Miami Heat
The judges were:
Dominique Wilkins
Dwight Howard
Corey Maggette
Brent Barry
Julius Erving
After the first four dunks, Johnson was in the lead with a score of 47.4. His dunk was the only one of the evening to use a “prop”, namely Bay Area rapper E-40. After missing his first attempt, Johnson soared over a standing E-40 before dunking, setting himself in solid position before the second dunk of the round.
Bryant punched his ticket to the final round with an impressive windmill dunk off a high bounce, earning him the highest score of the second dunks with 49.2. Johnson did enough to join Richardson in the finals with his baseline reverse, good for 45.4.
Johnson set the bar incredibly high with his first dunk of the second round, executing a smooth between the legs dunk off a high bounce, bringing home a score of 49.6. Not to be outdone, Bryant pulled off similar dunk, yet from a straighter angle with even more elevation, earning a perfect 50.
For his second dunk, Johnson took off after a long run up and cocked back for soaring slam, good for a score of 47.8. That left the door open. However, Bryant attempted a reverse dunk off the backboard, but he couldn’t connect on it after a few attempts. He eventually got off a relative pedestrian dunk just before time expired, unfortunately garnering only 43 points. With a cumulative 97.4 points in the round, Keshad Johnson of the Miami Heat is the 2026 NBA Dunk Contest winner.
What did you think of All-Star Saturday? Share your impressions in the comments below!
