Voting for the 2026 NBA All-Star game in Los Angeles opened on Wednesday, and the Toronto Raptors have two players who have a decent shot at being there. The team’s social media accounts launched their voting campaigns, centring on Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram in their efforts.
If you’re unfamiliar with how NBA All-Stars are chosen, it happens in a few phases. First, there is the fan vote, where fans can vote for their favourite Eastern and Western stars. The five players in each conference who
receive the most fan votes end up being honoured as starters. From there, the coaches choose the rest of the rosters, and then, if there are any injury replacements needed, Commissioner Adam Silver will choose them.
This year will be different, though, given that they are changing the format of the All-Star Game. They will have three teams of 8 players, two teams representing the United States and one team representing the rest of the World. The hope seems to be that the selection process will just end up making it so there are 16 Americans and 8 international players. The NBA’s website also explains that American players who have “ties” to other countries will be able to represent those countries on the international team, if that helps the numbers. Whether “ties” means legitimate citizenship or not is unknown. For example, there is an argument that Scottie Barnes could technically decide to represent Canada, since he plays and lives in Canada. Seems like a legitimate tie to the country, ya know?
Per this explainer page on the format, if the numbers STILL don’t work out, it seems like Adam Silver will just choose additional All-Stars to add onto whichever team is lacking players. This means the teams may end up with more than 8 players total… It’s all a little odd.
This format change, of course, is to try and bring back some excitement around the NBA All-Star game, which has been lacking. No one really tries in the game, and it just ends up being boring. We’ll see if the US vs the World format and the three-team format, works, or if it just ends up being uncomfortable. I feel like the USA isn’t really in a place at the moment to be adding gasoline to international rivalries, but it’s also just basketball, so who knows.
You know, we here at Raptors HQ will be fully backing Team World, especially given the fact that it will very likely be led by Canada’s own Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. If there is some sort of scenario where Scottie Barnes ends up repping Canada, more reason to celebrate.
Although Barnes and Ingram would likely represent Team USA if they end up being chosen as All-Stars, we’d still be happy. Both have excellent cases to make it, and although it may happen in different ways for each guy, it’ll be reason to celebrate.
It seems most likely that Barnes would make it as a reserve through the Coaches’ vote. The Raptors have a hard time competing in the fan vote, given that Canada is pretty small in comparison to the US, and our players don’t get as much American coverage. Despite being a top defensive player in the NBA this season, Barnes being in the top-5 for voting seems a little unrealistic. You already have Giannis, a Knick or two, Jaylen Brown, Cade, maybe someone from Orlando. He’s up there, but the votes will skew to the players in the US for sure, even if the Raptors are currently holding at 3rd in the East.
Ingram’s path may come as an injury replacement, given that a lot of the options for All-Star picks are currently out or in and out with injury. Adam Silver picks those, so it’s not up to fans or biases, and he is usually pretty fair with his picks. That’s how Scottie was chosen as a replacement the first time he made an appearance at the All-Star game.
You can vote for Barnes and Ingram here.
Either way, it seems like Toronto will have some representation at the All-Star game in 2026.
