2026 NBA Dunk Contest: how to watch, rules and who’s competing

While the All-Star Game serves as the grand finale of NBA All-Star Weekend, many fans tune in primarily for the annual Dunk Contest. This year’s edition features four stars aiming to wow the Intuit Dome crowd and the judges. All-Star Saturday begins at 5 p.m. ET on February 14, and the Dunk Contest will close out the night after the other competitions wrap; there is no exact start time for the dunk competition.

The contest uses two rounds with two dunks per player each round. Competitors have 90 seconds to complete a dunk and may attempt it up to three times within that window; if 90 seconds pass they receive one final try. A failed dunk yields the lowest possible score of 40, and once a dunk is made it cannot be re-attempted for a higher score.

Five judges score each dunk from 40 to 50 and the average of those scores becomes the player’s total; the top two scorers from the first round advance to the final. Additional details, including tiebreaker procedures, are in the NBA’s official rules sheet.

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