It’s looking like a Detroit takeover at the 2026 NBA All-Star Game in Inglewood, Calif. next month.
The Los Angeles Clippers are hosting All-Star weekend at the Intuit Dome from Feb. 13-15 and the Detroit Pistons are already sending guard Cade Cunningham and their entire coaching staff to take part in festivities as the top team in the Eastern Conference.
Even before All-Star reserves have been announced, the city of Detroit has another representative headed to Los Angeles as it was announced on Friday that Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown will take part in the annual All-Star Celebrity Game on Feb. 13.
St. Brown will be joined by Los Angeles Chargers receiver Keenan Allen taking part in the exhibition that kicks off All-Star weekend. Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts will coach one of the teams, while rapper GloRilla — who is dating Toronto Raptors guard Brandon Ingram — and producer Mustard, a Los Angeles native, will also compete in the game.
It will be a homecoming for the three-time All-Pro receiver, too. St. Brown grew up in the Los Angeles area and played his college football at USC before being drafted by the Lions in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL draft.
He’s been a key figure in Detroit’s elevation into a regular playoff team with four straight seasons of 100-plus catches and 1,100-plus yards.
Football players tend to have good showings during the celebrity game. In the last three years, DK Metcalf and Micah Parsons won MVP honors in the game. The 6-foot receiver might not have the same physical advantage those two had, but St. Brown is still an elite athlete and a basketball fan.
St. Brown has attended games at Little Caesars Arena, supporting the Pistons as they’ve made their own rise over the past few seasons.
When St. Brown arrived in Detroit in 2021, the Pistons were amid a descent of five straight losing seasons. But since adding coach J.B. Bickerstaff in 2024, they’ve surged to being a top team in the league, poised to be a threat in this season’s playoffs.
Cunningham was named an All-Star game starter for the first time in his career and due to Detroit having the best record in the Eastern Conference through the end of January, Bickerstaff and his coaches get to head up one of three teams for the All-Star game.
The Pistons are also hopeful that center Jalen Duren is among the players selected as an All-Star reserve as he continues a career season.
As the event draws closer, it’s becoming clear Detroit is going to have quite the contingent out in Los Angeles spanning just about every aspect of the weekend.