The NBA All-Star Game has long faced a familiar problem: no defense, intensity, and barely any reason for fans to care. It was reflected clearly in the numbers; ratings declined, star participation dwindled, and social media kept complaining. However, this year was different, and recently Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul explained why.

“We got it right,” Paul told Max Kellerman on the Game Over podcast. “They were not competing quarters one through four. They were not… If you don’t have to play a four-quarter game and you create a format where every game is the fourth quarter, you get a competitive start and finish.”

Paul credited commissioner Adam Silver and the league’s reforms for turning the game into something that mattered, where every possession counted and every player had a reason to compete. As someone who has ties to multiple All-Stars through his representation agency, Paul’s words matter.

Part of the context comes from Kevin Durant. A few days before the game itself, Durant pushed back at criticism he received for not competing, framing the competitiveness issues as something that’s prevalent amongst all participants, and not something that used to be different.

Paul noted that addressing these concerns wasn’t just leaning into nostalgia, but creating a structure that incentivizes intensity across the board. For Paul, one player embodied that more than anyone.

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“[Victor Wembanyama] came out and said, ‘I want to really approach this with a seriousness,'” Paul said. “You saw other players follow with that same sentiment… I think it was just a holistic approach by all. And because there was so much chatter about it, we got to hear someone’s intentions very early, which in this case, it was Wemby’s.”

Apart from Wembanyama, though, Paul also pointed at several other factors.

Format, Incentives, and International Pride Fueled the Turnaround According to Rich Paul

The 2026 All-Star Game featured a round-robin, mini-tournament format, transforming the event from full games into 12-minute skirmishes. According to Rich Paul, it forced a “every game is the fourth quarter” mentality, where trailing teams had to play hard from the get go. The USA vs World format added stakes to the game, and created urgency and competition across the board.

Wembanyama’s commitment just highlighted that impact on international players. Early messaging, leadership by top players, and a collective buy-in influenced the rest of the field, and pride for national identity drove players to compete as if the games mattered.

“The other thing was the scheduling,” Paul explained. “I thought that the All-Star Committee did a great job of scheduling the world team versus the Stars, I believe, which was the younger, which was the younger team. And that jumped it off right away.”

The results were undeniable. According to reports, an average  of 8.8 million viewers tuned in, which was the highest audience for an All-Star game in 15 years, and nearly double of last years, topping out at 9.8 million during the Stripes vs World section of the game.

Hopefully, the league can keep up this performance next season, but this year’s All-Star game was a good return to form.