The idea of a US vs. World matchup in the NBA All-Star Game has some player support

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama has already gone up against the U.S. in international events, most notably last year's Paris Olympics when he led France's march to the gold medal game against the Americans.

He'd like to be in that position more often — maybe even annually. And Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo loves that idea as well.

In the ongoing search for the right NBA All-Star format, there was plenty of talk this weekend in San Francisco about an idea that has picked up some momentum in recent years: The U.S. on one side, the world on the other side.

Count Wembanyama — San Antonio's 7-foot-4 All-Star center from France — as a fan of that notion.

“I would love to. My opinion is that it’s more purposeful,” Wembanyama said. “There’s more pride in it. More stakes.”

Antetokounmpo was even more succinct when asked if he'd be on board with such a move.

“I would love that. Oh, I would love that,” said Antetokounmpo, a native of Greece who is of Nigerian descent. “I think that would be the most interesting and most exciting format. I would love that. For sure, I’d take pride in that. I always compete, but I think that will give me a little bit more extra juice to compete.”

The latest format for the All-Star Game — a four-team, three-game mini-tournament with all games being of the first-to-40-points-wins variety — debuted Sunday night, with Shaq's OGs winning the title.

The NBA decided to try the tournament approach, which mimics what was already in place with the Rising Stars event for first- and second-year players, after years of openly asking for more competitive games.

And the 211-186 final score in 2024 was the last straw.

“I think that when you get events like this, All-Star Weekend, we don’t worry about the competition,” said 15-time All-Star Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns. “It’s just more about celebrating the basketball family and the community around this time. It shows how united we are as a group, as a basketball community, and how we can unite the rest of the world with what we do, as well. It’s a cool time.”

There is some evidence that a midseason matchup between the best American players and the best international players might work, and it's happening right now in another sport.

The 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament, which opened last week in Montreal and concludes Thursday in Boston with the U.S. assured of a spot in the championship game, is obviously not meaningless to the players involved. There's been fighting — three brawls in the first nine seconds of USA vs. Canada in Montreal on Saturday alone — and a ton of physicality, much to the delight of fans.

“Mayhem,” Canada coach Jon Cooper said.

The NBA — at least some in the NBA — are watching the hockey, and taking note of how it seems to be working as a potential idea for basketball's midseason showcase going forward.

“Sometimes things just get old and kind of need a facelift,” Golden State forward Draymond Green said. “I know they've done different things to try to get it going. I think what'll be interesting to see is how this 4 Nations thing turns out in hockey. If that turns out great, might have to peek an eye.”

Had it been an U.S. vs. The World this season for an All-Star format, here’s what the international team might have been:

— Wembanyama, Antetokounmpo, Denver's Nikola Jokic, Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Indiana's Pascal Siakam and Houston's Alperen Sengun were All-Stars already.

New York All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns plays internationally for the Dominican Republic, his mother’s homeland, so it would make sense to add him to that mix. Luka Doncic, now of the Los Angeles Lakers, is almost always an All-Star lock as well, so that would be eight players.

And here’s where it gets challenging.

If such a U.S. vs. The World All-Star matchup had the traditional 12-man rosters, four more players from the world pool would be needed — and that would mean four fewer American players would get the All-Star nod.

“The USA has more talented players than the rest of the world,” said Jokic, the three-time MVP from Serbia who led Denver to the NBA title in 2023. “Europe and the rest of the world has talented players, I think, but the majority of the players are coming from USA.”

The NBA says about 70% of players in the league are American and 30% aren’t. It’s simple math: it would be easier for international players to make the All-Star roster if the traditional format was being utilized.

“Not to say we couldn’t figure out a way around this, but to the extent we want to have a fair process for picking All-Stars, if you’re picking half the players from a 30% pool and the other half from a 70% pool, it might not be fair to the players,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last month. “So, that’s one thing we’re looking at.”

Silver sought input from current players like Golden State star Stephen Curry before the league went to the tournament format this year.

If he asks Wembanyama or Antetokounmpo their thoughts about 2026 and beyond, it's pretty clear what the answer will be.

“Having Shai, Jokic, Luka, Wemby, Towns, Sengun, I know those players — obviously I’m missing some guys that I cannot think from the top of my head — going against the best U.S. players, I think it would be fun,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think that would be the best format.”

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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shoots over Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland during the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, center, celebrates with Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell during the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shoots during the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, left, shakes hands with New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns during the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

Boston Celtics guard Jayson Tatum dribbles past Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic during the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry shoots between Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, left, and Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam during the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving scores past San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama during the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving, left, dribbles past San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama during the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Belarusian authorities on Saturday freed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, key opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova and other prominent political prisoners, a human rights group confirmed.

Their release comes as authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko seeks to improve relations with Washington. The U.S. earlier on Saturday announced lifting sanctions on the country’s potash sector. In exchange, Lukashenko pardoned a total of 123 prisoners, the Belta state news agency reported.

A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by Western countries both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Belarus has released hundreds of prisoners since July 2024.

John Coale, the U.S. special envoy for Belarus, announced the lifting of sanctions on potash after meeting Lukashenko in Minsk on Friday and Saturday.

Speaking with journalists, Coale described the two-day talks as “very productive,” Belarus’ state news agency Belta reported Saturday. He said that normalizing relations between Washington and Minsk was “our goal.”

“We’re lifting sanctions, releasing prisoners. We’re constantly talking to each other,” he said, according to Belta. He also said that the relationship between the countries was moving from “baby steps to more confident steps” as they increased dialogue.

Pavel Sapelka, an advocate with the Viastan rights group, confirmed to The Associated Press that Bialiatski and Kolesnikova were released from prison.

Human rights advocate Bialiatski won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, along with the prominent Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties.

Bialiatski, awarded the prize while in jail awaiting trial, was later convicted of smuggling as well as financing actions that violate public order — charges widely denounced as politically motivated — and sentenced to 10 years in 2023.

Kolesnikova was a key figure in the mass protests that rocked Belarus in 2020, and is a close ally of an opposition leader in exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

Kolesnikova, known for her close-cropped hair and trademark gesture of forming a heart with her hands, became an even greater symbol of resistance when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her in September 2020. Driven to the Ukrainian border, she briefly broke away from security forces at the frontier, tore up her passport and walked back into Belarus.

The 43-year-old professional flautist was convicted in 2021 on charges including conspiracy to seize power and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Others who were released, according to Viasna, include Viktar Babaryka — an opposition figure who had sought to challenge Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election, widely seen as rigged, before being convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges he rejected as political.

Viasna said that the group's imprisoned advocates, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich, and prominent opposition figure Maxim Znak, were released as well.

Most of them were brought into Ukraine, Franak Viachorka, Tsikhanouskaya’s senior adviser, told the AP.

“I think Lukashenko decided to deport people to Ukraine to show that he is in control of the situation,” Viachorka said.

Eight or nine others, including Bialiatski, will be brought to Lithuania on Saturday, and more prisoners will be taken to Lithuania in the next few days, Viachorka said.

Ukrainian authorities confirmed that Belarus handed over 114 civilians. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said five of them were Ukrainian nationals.

The last time U.S. officials met with Lukashenko in September 2025, Washington announced easing some of the sanctions against Belarus while Mink released more than 50 political prisoners into Lithuania. With that September release, the number of prisoners freed by Belarus since July 2024 exceeded 430, in what was widely seen as an effort at a rapprochement with the West.

“The freeing of political prisoners means that Lukashenko understands the pain of Western sanctions and is seeking to ease them,” Tsikhanouskaya told the AP on Saturday.

She added: “But let’s not be naive: Lukashenko hasn’t changed his policies, his crackdown continues and he keeps on supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine. That’s why we need to be extremely cautious with any talk of sanctions relief, so that we don't reinforce Russia's war machine and encourage continued repressions.”

Tsikhnouskaya also described European Union sanctions against Belarusian potash fertilizers as far more painful for Minsk that those imposed by the U.S, saying that while easing U.S. sanctions could lead to the release of political prisoners, European sanctions should push for long-term, systemic changes in Belarus and the end of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Belarus, which previously accounted for about 20% of global potash fertilizer exports, has faced sharply reduced shipments since Western sanctions targeted state producer Belaruskali and cut off transit through Lithuania’s Klaipeda port, the country’s main export route.

“Sanctions by the U.S., EU and their allies have significantly weakened Belarus’s potash industry, depriving the country of a key source of foreign exchange earnings and access to key markets,” Anastasiya Luzgina, an analyst at the Belarusian Economic Research Center BEROC, told AP.

“Minsk hopes that lifting U.S. sanctions on potash will pave the way for easing more painful European sanctions; at the very least, U.S. actions will allow discussions to begin,” she said.

The latest round of U.S.-Belarus talks also touched on Venezuela, as well as Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Belta reported.

Coale told reporters that Lukashenko had given “good advice” on how to address the Ukraine war, saying that Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin were “longtime friends” with “the necessary level of relationship to discuss such issues.”

"Naturally, President Putin may accept some advice and not others,” Coale said.

In this photo released by Belarusian presidential press service, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and U.S. Presidential envoy John Coale shake hands during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (Belarusian Presidential Press Service via AP)