With NBA All-Star Weekend just around the corner, the spotlight isn’t only on the action; it’s also on the money at stake. This season, there have been some major changes to the format. The league is shifting to a U.S. vs. World format in hopes of boosting global viewership and making the event more competitive.

So there will be three teams, split between two American teams and a World team. The two American teams are named the USA Stripes and the USA Stars. The three teams will face each other in 12-minute games. The two teams with the best record after the round-robin format will play the championship game. Alongside the new format, there’s also significant prize money up for grabs across the weekend.

How Much Prize Money Do Players Earn for Winning the NBA All-Star Game?

The All-Star is a big ticket event in the American sports calendar, and everyone involved in the game is generally well-compensated. The entire prize pool for the All-Star game is $1.8 million. Every single member of the winning team will receive $125,000, whereas the players from the runner-up team will receive $50,000. Lastly, players on the third-place team will earn $25,000 each just for participating in the flagship event.

Last season, the All-Star event saw four teams fight it out among themselves, while the prize pool of $1.8 million remained the same, the sum was divided among the four. This year, it will be split into three teams.

What Is the Prize Money for NBA All-Star Weekend Events Like the Dunk Contest and 3-Point Contest?

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While the All-Star Game is the flagship event of the famous weekend, there are several other events that catch the attention of the fans. The Three-Point Contest, the Dunk Contest, and the Skills Challenge are all crucial parts of the All-Star weekend. The Three-Point Contest has garnered a lot of interest over the last decade or so.

According to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, the winner of the 3-point contest will take home $60,000. However, the other seven participants will also walk home with some money according to their rank. The runners-up will secure $40,000, and the third-placed player will earn $25,000. The players ranked fourth to seventh will get $15,000 each, with the eighth-placed player securing $10,000.

There is no official data on the 2026 All-Star Dunk Contest’s prize money, but if we go by last year’s numbers, the winner took home $100,000, while the runner-up secured $50,000, and the other two participants received $25,000.

In the Skills Challenge, payouts start at $15,000 (fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth place) before rising to $20,000 (third and fourth place). The runner-up earns $40,000, while the winner gets a $55,000 prize.

Do Players Receive Bonuses or Incentives Beyond Official Prize Money in the All- Star 2026 Game?

Apart from the money that the players get from the All-Star Game or the other events, such as the Dunk Contest, Three-Point Contest, and Skills Challenge, there’s no official source suggesting that the players receive any additional bonus or incentives. So the prize money is generally split equally, depending on the position the player’s team finished in the All-Star Game.

Additionally, the NBA All-Star weekend is often used as an opportunity to raise funds for charitable causes. In 2020, Team LeBron’s designated charity, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, received $400,000, whereas Team Giannis’ charity, After School Matters, received $100,000. During the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, the State Farm Assist Tracker recorded 106 assists, resulting in $201,400 in donations.

How Does NBA All-Star Game Prize Money Compare to the In-Season Tournament and Playoffs?

The All-Star weekend payout may look extremely low when it is compared to the In-Season prize pool and the postseason bonuses and earnings. While a player this season could earn a minimum of $25,000 even if his team finishes last in the flagship event, the payout in the NBA Cup is on another level. The In-season tournament that was started in 2023 had the biggest payout in 2025.

The New York Knicks won the tournament this season, and each of their players took home $530,933, whereas the San Antonio Spurs, who finished second, saw each of their players receive $212,373. The semifinalists and the quarterfinalist teams also received $106,187 and $53,093 in earnings (per player), respectively.

The economics around the NBA Playoffs and the finals are on another level. In the postseason, teams earn more with each round they advance, and the NBA also factors in the regular season positions in its prize pool, as the team with the best record in the regular season secures a bonus of $869,345. That bonus pool is then distributed among players. A payout of $466,263 would translate to roughly $30,400 per player on a standard 15-man roster, with more available if the top regular-season team wins the title, as the Oklahoma City Thunder did last season.

While looking at these numbers, it’s also worth remembering that the All-Star Game is a relaxed exhibition designed to entertain fans. Similarly, the In-season tournament and the playoffs are serious achievements that teams fight for, which explains the much larger prize pools attached to those competitions.