The old Showtime banners still hang from the rafters of the Kia Forum, but on Friday night the ghosts of Magic and Kareem had to give way to something much sillier: a 7-foot-6 actor dunking a cast member’s alley-oops, a K-pop band screaming during halftime, and an ESPN insider being “traded” for a bag of chips.
Welcome to the 2026 edition of the celebrity basketball game of the NBA’s loosest tradition – the NBA All‑Star Celebrity Game – where the stat lines are ridiculous, defense is optional and, somehow, one man begins to build a mini-dynasty.
That man, once again, was Rome Flynn.
Rome Flynn runs the Celebrity All Star Game like it’s her job
If you’re wondering who Rome Flynn is, you probably came away with a good idea. Officially, he is an actor and musician, known for How to Get Away with Murder and daytime soap operas. Unofficially, after winning consecutive MVPs, he is now the undisputed king of the celebrity All Star Game.
In the 2026 Celebrity All-Star Game, Flynn scored 17 points for Team Giannis and did most of his damage when it mattered most. The Celebrity All-Star Game score ended 65-58 to his side, but that flat number barely hints at the chaos that produced it.
At first, the All Star Game celebrity roster seemed to be tilted toward Anthony Anderson’s Team Anthony. Los Angeles Chargers receiver Keenan Allen came out strong, racking up 12 of his team’s first 28 points. At halftime, the Celebrity All-Star Game score gave Team Anthony a 34-26 lead, with Allen and Tacko Fall co-leading scorers with 14 each.
Fall, lining up for Team Giannis, quickly made the celebrity match stats page look like a typo. Using every inch of his 7-foot-6 frame, he powered his way to the first 20-point, 20-rebound game in NBA celebrity history, knocking down four shots for good measure. The climax of the first quarter was pure spectacle: Flynn running down the field, bouncing the ball off the glass and watching Fall race home.
“Tacko, he’s unstoppable, that looked so good,” Flynn then smiled. “It was a team effort here. Well done to my teammates.
It was the public line. Privately, the 2026 NBA Celebrity Game belonged to him.
When the game shifted to its fourth-quarter gimmick — a “double time” mode where each basket counted as double — this team effort began to look eerily like a Rome Flynn takeover. With Team Giannis trailing, he buried three straight points, then calmly made a free throw to put them ahead.
A few possessions later, nostalgia arrived. Jeremy Lin, drafted into the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game as a “former player,” launched a four-point shot and made it, which is worth eight under the rules. For a few seconds, the All-Star Celebrity Game looked like Linsanity in 2012, not an NBA Celebrity Show in 2026.
By the time the buzzer sounded, Flynn was winning a second straight MVP trophy. Anderson and co-star Donald Faison tried to steal it from him with fake indignation. “That’s the second time, y’all,” Flynn laughed. ‘Glory to God. Great participation. Thanks to Jeremy Lin for playing a bit. And Giannis man, you really coached us, you coached us.
Giannis Antetokounmpoprowling the sidelines as head coach, secured a tactical masterstroke. Pressing the “double time” button, he insisted, was his decision. “You know, I just coach and the players play, but it was definitely my decision,” he told ESPN, half-joking.
Inside the 2026 NBA Celebrity Game roster: chaos, cameos and a little pride
On paper, you could treat this like any other light fixture. There was a list of 2026 NBA Celebrity Games to review, a list of Celebrity All-Star Games for each team, and even a sort of Celebrity All-Star Game box score that told you who did what.
Team Giannis deployed Rome Flynn, Keegan-Michael Key, Chinese actor-singer Dylan Wang, ESPN reporter Shams Charania, social media star Jenna Bandy, Hornets co-owner Rick Schnall, Fall, Lin, rapper GloRilla, Brazilian soccer legend Cafu and Detroit Lions star Amon-Ra St Brown. Antetokounmpo’s brothers, Alex and Thanasis, along with Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts, rounded out the coaching staff.
Team Anthony, coached by Anderson with shooting guru Lethal Shooter and coach Chris Brickley, took on Shang‑Chi frontman Simu Liu, Dude Perfect’s Cody Jones, rapper Badshah, Olympic sprinter Andre De Grasse, reality TV star Taylor Frankie Paul, Suns owner Mat Ishbia, former NBA guard Jason Williams, Love Island USA’s Nicolas Vansteenberghe, producer Mustard, influencer Adrien Núñez and the always busy Keenan Allen.
On the court, it was exactly the kind of glorious mess you want the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game to be. Wang hit a free throw so poorly that it sailed left from the rim, then later redeemed himself with Celebrating LeBron James’ “Silent” after a layup. Jason Williams faked a behind-the-back pass to make it a solo score, “White Chocolate” still very much alive. The Kia Forum, which formerly hosted the Showtime Lakersroared for K‑pop boy band Cortis at halftime as if it were a BTS concert.
On the sidelines, the NBA ecosystem was bubbling. Commissioner Adam Silver and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer shared a surprisingly relaxed conversation, despite an ongoing league investigation into whether Los Angeles skirted the cap to land Kawhi Leonard. Victor Wembanyama, wearing a white Nike jacket and sunglasses, strolled over before the game to greet Fall, gently puncturing any illusion Tacko might have had of being the only true giant in the building.
And then there was Shams. The arena announcer, seizing the moment, reminded everyone that the reporter had spent the trade deadline churning out scoops on Giannis’ future in Milwaukee. He then informed Charania, to great laughter, that Antetokounmpo had sent him to Team Anthony “for a bag of Ruffles.” For a moment, the celebrity all-star game became blurred in the veritable NBA rumor mill.
Off the court, the league was already highlighting Saturday’s contests — including the standard three-point shootout and a separate 2026 celebrity 3-point contest — and Sunday’s All‑Star main event. There’s no NBA celebrity 3-point contest trophy yet next to Flynn’s twin MVPs, but based on this evidence, he’d probably appreciate it too.
When asked if he would be back to defend his title in Phoenix, where the 2027 Celebrity All-Star Game will take place, Flynn couldn’t hide the competitor in him. “Phoenix is nice, I might want to go,” he says, half-threat, half-wink.
Ultimately, that’s why this thing works. For one evening, the NBA Celebrity Game allows famous people to worry a little too much about something that doesn’t matter. It gives Team Giannis something to plan for, lets fans see their rappers and actors sucking wind on defense, and delivers just enough authentic basketball to justify the whole circus.
The 2026 Celebrity All Star Game won’t change the fate of a franchise or alter a single betting line. But it gave the Kia Forum an evening of alley-oops, bad free throws, fake exchanges and a very real throughline: Rome Flynn, treating a novelty show like a stage and owning it.
