Anthony Edwards was selected as the recipient of the Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player award for helping the USA Stars to a 47-21 victory over the USA Stripes in the All-Star 2026 Championship Game and scoring a team-high 13 points in their 37-35 overtime victory over the World team in the first game Sunday at the Intuit Dome.
The Minnesota Timberwolves guard scored the first eight points of a 15-0 run that increased the USA Stars’ lead to 33-9 with 4:19 left. They closed the game with consecutive dunks by Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, Oklahoma City Thunder center-forward Chet Holmgren and Toronto Raptors forward-guard Scottie Barnes to take their biggest lead.
The USA Stars broke out to a 12-1 lead 2:36 into play with Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey scoring seven of his game-high nine points.
The NBA All-Star Game was a three-team round-robin tournament consisting of four 12-minute games, with two teams of U.S. players and one of foreign players. It began with the USA Stars defeating the World team, 37-35, in overtime.
Edwards made a 3-point basket with 14 seconds to play to tie the score, 32-32. Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray missed a 3-point shot for the World team, forcing the first-to-five overtime.
Edwards scored the first points of the overtime with a 14-foot fadeaway jumper. San Antonio Spurs forward-center Victor Wembanyama responded with a 3-point basket for the World team. Barnes ended the game with a 3-point basket.
Wembanyama scored a game-high 14 in front of a capacity crowd that included former President Barak Obama.
Tbe USA Stars then lost to the USA Stripes, 42-40, San Antonio Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox making a 3-point basket with one second to play for the USA Stripes.
Edwards and Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham scored 11 each for the USA Stars.
Boston Celtics forward-guard Jaylen Brown led the USA Stripes with 11. Laker forward LeBron James added eight and Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard five.
In the third game, Leonard scored 31, including the tie-breaking 3-point basket with four seconds left in the USA Stripes 48-45 victory over the World team, which ended its chances of playing in the championship game.
Wembanyama led the World team with 19 but missed a 28-foot 3-point shot with one second left that would have tied the score.
The United States versus the Rest of the World format is the third new concept since 2018 the NBA has used in an attempt to increase interest in the event. Commissioner Adam Silver said this format is “something many people have been asking for for a long time.”
“We’re sandwiched in the middle of the Olympics now, so it seemed like the appropriate time to try this new format,” Silver said Saturday at his customary All-Star Game news conference.
After the first 66 NBA All-Star Games were played in an East vs. West format, the first change to the format came with the 2018 game where the players for each team were selected by the top vote-getter in each conference.
The East vs. West format returned in 2024. The 2025 All-Star Game consisted of a four-team single-elimination tournament with three teams drafted from a pool of 24 all-stars by TNT analysts Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. The fourth team was the winner of the Rising Stars Challenge tournament.
Each player on the USA Stars will receive $125,000, with the members of the USA Stripes receiving $50,000 and the World team players $25,000 each for their third-place finish.
This was the record seventh time the All-Star Game will be played in the Los Angeles area and fourth since 2004. It was played at the since-demolished Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in 1963, the Forum in 1972 and 1983 and what is now Crypto.com Arena in 2004, 2011 and 2018.
New York City is second with five — three at the since-demolished Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue and two at the current arena.