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We're a little more than a month out from 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend, being held this year at the Clippers' Intuit Dome. If you treasure yet another NBA All-Star format change, the league once again has you covered. 

This year the NBA is rolling out its first U.S. vs the World competition. As usual, at least 24 players will be selected, 12 from each conference, with no regard for positional requirements. Of those, at least 16 Americans will be divided into two teams of eight, with the remaining eight players making up the international team. Then those three teams will compete in a round-robin tournament. If those numbers aren't reached organically between the voting process for starters -- fans account for 50%, with players and media each getting 25% -- and the reserves selected by NBA head coaches, the commissioner will add extra All-Stars. Each time I explain this thing I feel like Charlie Day at the conspiracy corkboard. Someone get me a cigarette and a ball of red string. 

The important part for this particular exercise is the eight international players. That number is the minimum, and we could wind up with more than eight. It is not a big number -- which does not mean it isn't tricky. Quite the opposite, actually. A small group comes with complications, as we'll see shortly.  

This week, the second batch of fan voting results were released. It gives us a little snapshot at which non-Americans have a chance to be honored as All-Stars.

The latest results aren't terribly different from the first batch. Among the international players in the West, there was no change in position for Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama and Deni Avdija. Houston's Alperen Sengun was up one slot to 10th. Denver's Jamal Murray slid one spot to 15th, while Utah's Lauri Markkanen dropped two to 18th.

In the East, Giannis Antetokounmpo remained the top vote getter in the second returns. Among other international players (and we'll get into the mess of defining what that actually means in a moment), New York's Karl-Anthony Towns stayed steady at seventh, Indiana's Pascal Siakam fell one spot to 10th, New York's OG Anunobuy remained at 13th, Philadelphia's Joel Embiid stayed at 17th, and Chicago's Josh Giddey dropped five spots to 19th.

Now, keen observers of professional hooper backgrounds might be wondering why KAT is being lumped among the non-American All-Star hopefuls. After all, he was born in New Jersey. As it turns out, these things are fluid. Ahead of opening night this season, the NBA issued a press release trumpeting a record 135 international players from 46 countries across six continents. It included a snazzy graphic. 

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In that release, the league listed Towns in a section with other "American players with parents from other countries." Great. So Towns goes on the American side, right? If only it was that simple.

Towns has previously played international competitions for the Dominican Republic, and there have been reports that for All-Star selection purposes he would be considered for the World team. Just to muddy things further, the same aforementioned press release listed Embiid -- who was born in Cameroon and became a French and American citizen in 2022 -- as an international player despite him winning a gold medal at the Olympics with Team USA. The good news here, at least for this convoluted exercise, is that Embiid will not be an All-Star this season. We can cross him off our list. Even so, you can see how in its attempt to brighten up a previously dull All-Star format the league has painted this whole process with a fairly impenetrable shade of gray. 

As a failsafe, Commissioner Adam Silver will have wide discretion to move players who might otherwise qualify for both the U.S. or World teams from one side to the other to make this whole mish-mash work. In the interests of helping him stave off a headache, let's run through how this should shake out.

International ASG locks

Unless the voting goes off the rails, four of the five starters in the West will come from the international pool: Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama. Add in Giannis Antetokounmpo in the East and we're already up to five of the required eight total. Space is getting tight. 

This is perhaps an obvious design flaw of the new format. If there was any initial concern about potentially needing to add extra internationals to reach the minimum number, it now appears that eight out of 24 total is a serious squeeze. 

Near locks

We're down to just three open slots, assuming no one backs out or gets hurt. (Jokic's knee injury is expected to keep him out until the end of this month, but in theory he'd have another two-week buffer before the ASG.) 

For convenience and also out of common sense, we're going to make an executive decision here and rule that KAT is not an international player. It seems silly but evidently bears repeating that the man is an American by birth. He grew up in Piscataway, New Jersey, and he's an Eagles fan. As a fellow Eagles fan, no one who says "Go Birds" can be seriously considered an international anything. 

That established, Deni Avdija is having a monster breakout season in Portland where he's been handed the keys to the offense and put in the playmaking driver's seat with Jrue Holiday on the mend. And since Avdija is seventh in the latest round of voting -- one slot ahead of LeBron James -- it appears people have noticed. Avdija is averaging 26.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 7.0 assists with a 61.4 TS%. All but the rebounds are career highs, and he's just barely off setting a new mark there as well. Deni also leads the league in and-ones. He's the main attraction in Portland, where the Blazers are ninth in the Western Conference and firmly in the play-in mix. Avdija has earned his first All-Star nod and one of the precious few remaining international slots. (Quick Avdija aside: His four-year rookie extension pays him $15.6 million this season and declines in each of the next three years, ending with him earning just $11.8 million. There's a case to be made that's already the most valuable contract in the league.)

That leaves two more spots. 

Before rolling his ankle last week, Alperen Sengun was also putting up noteworthy numbers. Sengun is averaging a career-best 21.9 points, 6.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 block, along with 9.0 rebounds per game. He's especially leveled up as a passer, which has led to a lot of Baby Joker comparisons even though Jokić would prefer everyone cut that out. Comparisons aside, Sengun has been excellent. He's expected to be back sooner than later, and the injury shouldn't derail him from making a second-consecutive All-Star appearance. 

Eighth slot

The remaining candidates include Jamal Murray, Lauri Markkanen, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, and Josh Giddey. With apologies to Bulls fans, we can scratch off that last name. Giddey was putting up quality counting stats but recently suffered a hamstring injury that should keep him out for a couple weeks at least. 

Siakam is having another brilliant individual campaign and has been one of the few and consistent bright spots in a tough season for the six-win Pacers. He's a worthy All-Star, as is Anunoby, who is a two-way monster for the Knicks and a huge reason why they have designs on winning the Eastern Conference. Either of them would make fine selections. 

So would Markkanen. The predominant narrative around him for a while has been if/when he'd get traded out of Utah and, if so, where he might land. Meanwhile he's quietly putting up a career-high 27.9 points per game with a 61.5 TS%. The last and only time he was named an All-Star was 2022-23, his first season with the Jazz. There's a case to be made that he deserves another nod. 

But with respect to the other prospects, the last slot goes to Jamal Murray. Finally. While the fans have rightly noticed Avdija this season, their voting is way off on what Murray has done. 

Jokić has famously never played with someone who's been named to an All-NBA or All-Star team. That should change this season. Murray has been spectacular, averaging 25.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 7.5 assists (all career highs), with 47.9/44.3/88.9 shooting splits. The 3-point percentage is his best in nine NBA seasons (and on a career-high 7.7 attempts per game). With four of five starters missing time for Denver at various points, Murray has been the consistent star the Nuggets have sorely needed as they jockey for position in the loaded Western Conference. It's the best season of his life, and he deserves one of the eight international spots. 

We could wind up with more than eight international All-Stars, but the eight most deserving right now are Dončić, Jokić, Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama, Antetokounmpo, Avdija, Sengun and Murray.