And-Ones: First-Time All-Stars, 2026 Draft, NBA Cup, More
The 2026 NBA All-Star Game is still over two months away, but a number of players around the league are emerging as legitimate candidates to appear in the game for the first time, writes Zach Harper of The Athletic.
Harper points to Bulls guard Josh Giddey, Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, Pistons center Jalen Duren, and Heat guard Norman Powell as Eastern Conference standouts who could become first-time All-Stars, while identifying Lakers guard Austin Reaves, Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, Thunder big man Chet Holmgren, and Nuggets guard Jamal Murray as the most plausible first-timers in the Western Conference.
Of those players, only Duren looks like a shoo-in to make the game, according to Zach Kram of ESPN, who takes his own early look at potential All-Stars and divides players into two groups — “near-locks” and “on the bubble.”
Duren is among Kram’s seven near-locks in the East, though he considers Giddey, Johnson, and Powell to have strong cases to make the cut. In the West, Kram thinks Murray could still find himself on the outside looking in despite a career-best first half, given the strength of the competition for the 12 spots. However, with eight international spots to fill and the potential for injury replacements beyond the initial 24 All-Stars, there could be multiple paths for the Nuggets guard to finally earn the honor.
We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Although Kansas guard Darryn Peterson has only appeared in two games so far this season, he’s the 2026 draft prospect that NBA scouts seem most excited about, according to Sam Vecenie of The Athletic, who places Peterson atop his most recent mock draft, ahead of Duke’s Cameron Boozer and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa. Tennessee’s Nate Ament has slipped out of Vecenie’s top five, with UNC’s Caleb Wilson at No. 4, followed by Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr.
- A panel of ESPN insiders answers a series of questions related to the NBA Cup, including which player was the MVP during the group stage (Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got two votes apiece) and which team has the best chance to upset Oklahoma City in the knockout round (the Lakers earned three of five possible votes).
- In an interesting story for ESPN, Kevin Pelton takes a deep dive into the data to explore the impact of familiarity on shooting efficiency and explains why a number of high-profile players who changed teams over the summer – including Cameron Johnson, Desmond Bane, and Myles Turner – may have gotten off to slow starts.
- Lindsay Schnell of The Athletic examines how former G League players became NCAA-eligible and what it means for college basketball going forward. “At the end of the day, we’re not the ones making decisions,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “We either adapt to the rules or we get left behind. So until something changes, I guess all of us are watching G League games now.”
And-Ones: Dybantsa, Porzingis, Oturu, Bryant, Summer League
A.J. Dybantsa was named MVP of the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup after the U.S. team beat Germany 109-76 to take home the gold medal, writes Tobias Bass of The Athletic. Both the U.S. and Germany were undefeated heading into the game.
Dybantsa, the BYU commit who is considered a strong bet to challenge for the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, averaged 14.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per game during the tournament. He shot 50% from the field and 84% from the free-throw line on 50 attempts, though he struggled from outside, connecting on just 2-of-18 three-pointers.
Dybantsa was also named to the U19 World Cup All-Star team alongside teammate Mikel Brown Jr., who had a strong tournament run. The 6’4″ Brown, who has committed to Louisville for next season, led Team USA in points and assists with 14.9 and 6.1, respectively, while shooting 47.6% from three and posting a nearly three-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio.
We have more from around the world of basketball:
- Kristaps Porzingis is listed on the Latvian national team’s extended roster for the 2025 EuroBasket tournament, according to Eurohoops.net. He is expected to join the team after visiting with the Hawks following his trade from the Celtics. Porzingis struggled with an illness during the 2025 playoffs, but will look to bounce back with his first international competition since 2017. “We will adjust [workloads] to the health and fitness level of each player to help them be in the best possible shape as EuroBasket2025 approaches,” said head coach Luca Banchi.
- Israeli basketball team Hapoel Tel Aviv has announced the signings of Elijah Bryant (via Twitter) and Daniel Oturu (via Twitter). Bryant played one year in the NBA, winning a championship with the 2021 Bucks while averaging 4.5 minutes over 11 games during the team’s playoff run. Oturu had brief stints with the Clippers and Raptors, and has been playing overseas since the 2023/24 season.
- The NBA will count end-of-period heaves as team shot attempts, rather than individual player shot attempts, during Summer League, the league announced (via Twitter). This follows testing with the G League in the 2024/25 season. Three criteria must be met for this to apply: the play must originate in the backcourt, the missed shot must be attempted from at least 36 feet from the basket, and it must be attempted within the final three seconds of the first three periods in the game. This move is intended to incentivize players to shoot heaves without regard for how they might harm their shooting percentage.