Justin Allgaier’s poorly timed block near the end of the second stage of the Daytona 500 took out a host of cars at the front of the field.
Allgaier was leading with less than 10 laps to go before the stage concluded when Denny Hamlin got a push from Ryan Blaney at the front of the outside line entering the tri-oval. As Hamlin went to Allgaier’s outside, Allgaier moved up. Slowly.
The late block collected Hamlin, Blaney, defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen and many others. At least 20 cars were involved. Forty-one cars started the race and 40 were on track at the time of the crash.
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Allgaier races full-time in NASCAR’s second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for JR Motorsports. It was his second straight Daytona 500 racing for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team, as it has attempted each of the past two 500s.
This year’s 500 was just Allgaier’s fifth Cup Series start in the past four seasons. Though he’s an O’Reilly Series champion and has finished in the top five in the standings in each of the past six seasons, it’s fair to wonder if his lack of experience in Cup Series cars helped lead to the crash. There was little reason for his block to happen so lackadaisically. He either needed to let Hamlin drive past or move up in front of him sooner.
It was the second big crash of the race in the tri-oval already. A wreck earlier in the second stage ruined the chances of contending for Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Connor Zilisch and others. Allgaier was also slightly a part of that one as he and Zilisch made contact as the wreck began.
KSU fired Tang on Sunday following the Wildcats’ latest loss. KSU fell to 1-11 in the Big 12 with a 78-64 loss to Houston. It was the sixth straight defeat for Kansas State and came a game after Tang said he was “embarrassed for the university” when criticizing his team following a 91-62 home loss to Cincinnati.
Kansas State is trying to fire Jerome Tang “for cause.” (Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images)
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters)
Kansas State went 71-57 in Tang’s time with the school. His buyout for a firing without cause is over $18 million, but Kansas State is attempting to fire Tang for cause, according to The Manhattan Mercury and other reports.
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The cause? Those comments after the loss to the Bearcats for allegedly disparaging the university. By firing Tang for cause, Kansas State can say it isn’t obligated to pay him his buyout. Tang would have the ability to challenge Kansas State’s basis in court if he so chooses.
And it appears he will do so. He told ESPN that he plans to contest Kansas State’s reasoning.
“I am deeply disappointed with the university’s decision and strongly disagree with the characterization of my termination,” Tang told ESPN. “I have always acted with integrity and faithfully fulfilled my responsibilities as head coach.”
Tang’s best season at Kansas State came in his first year with the school. The Wildcats went 26-10 in 2022-23 and made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament before losing to Florida Atlantic. It was the only time KSU would make the tournament in Tang’s tenure; KSU went 19-15 the next season and then fell to 16-17 in 2024-25.
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This season, the Wildcats are just 10-15 despite signing PJ Haggerty from Memphis out of the transfer portal. Haggerty is averaging 23.3 points per game and shooting 48% from the field. But Kansas State’s defense has been abysmal.
K-State is averaging 80.2 points per game but giving up 80.7 points per game. Just 28 teams are allowing more points per game than the Wildcats this season.
That Cincinnati game appeared to be the tipping point for many Kansas State fans as students wore paper bags over their heads during the game. In his postgame news conference, Tang said the game was “embarrassing” and that “these dudes did not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few in it next year.”
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Tang will also not be wearing Kansas State colors next season. He then went on to say the team had practice at 6 a.m. the next day and he had “no answers and no words.”
Tang came to Kansas State from Baylor. He was the Bears’ associate head coach under Scott Drew from 2017-22 and was on the staff when the Bears won the 2021 national title. Before he was the team’s associate head coach, Tang was an assistant with the team since 2003 after coaching high school basketball in Texas.
Day 9 of the 2026 Winter Olympics didn’t bring any new medals for the United States, but there were several major team wins of note to keep the Americans in position to add to that count in the coming days. A few U.S. stars failed to reach the podium on Sunday.
The four-person team of Tabitha Peterson, Cory Thiesse, Tara Peterson and Taylor Anderson-Heide rallied out of a 4-1 hole after the fifth end to somehow beat the Chinese team, 6-5. Two of the points came in the last two ends.
Rui Wang missed her attempt to get a U.S. stone out of position in the ninth, which tied the matchup heading into the final end. While China built a total wall around the button, Tabitha somehow got her stone through traffic to box Wang out. Wang then left her last stone at the back of the house, unable to get enough of a push on it, to allow the U.S. to get a stone closest to the center to steal the final point, and the match.
The U.S. now sits at 4-1, which has them second in the standings behind only Sweden. The Americans will take on Italy on Monday.
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While this didn’t impact the Americans directly, the curling cheating scandal continued on Sunday. World Curling made changes to its umpiring setup for the rest of the event after both Canada’s women’s team and Great Britain’s men’s team had stones pulled from the sheet.
More disappointment for Mikaela Shiffrin
Mikaela Shiffrin’s Olympic struggles continue. After failing to medal in six events in Beijing (2022), Shiffrin started her Milan Cortina games with a disappointing slalom run in the team combined event last week. Her effort there knocked her and teammate Breezy Johnson off the podium after Johnson put them in gold-medal position with a first-place finish in the downhill section.
On Sunday, Shiffrin finished off the podium again with an 11th-place finish in the giant slalom. She stood in seventh place after the first of two runs and fell four spots after the second.
Italy’s Federica Brignone won her second gold medal of the Games (super-G) in the event.
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Shiffrin, meanwhile, maintained a positive attitude on social media after the competition.
Giant slalom is not Shiffrin’s strength. But her finish off the podium puts her one race away from finishing a second consecutive Olympics without a medal.
Shiffrin is widely considered the greatest women’s Alpine skier in the history of the sport with an unrivaled World Cup record. Her Olympic legacy already features two gold medals and one silver from Sochi in 2014 and Pyeongchang in 2018.
But she’s now competed in eight consecutive Olympics events without a podium. She has one more chance in these Games. She’ll compete in her speciality on Wednesday as a favorite to take home gold in the slalom.
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Beijing gold medalist Erin Jackson finishes off podium
Four years ago, Erin Jackson was crowned the world’s fastest woman on skates with a gold medal in 500-meter speed skating at the Beijing Olympics.
She’s since relinquished that title to Dutch skater Femke Kok, who set a new world record in the event in November. And on Sunday, Kok secured Olympic gold with an Olympic-record time of 36.49, a full 0.66 seconds ahead of her Dutch teammate and silver medalist, Jutta Leerdam.
Jackson, meanwhile, finished off the podium. Japan’s Miho Takagi won bronze with a time of 37.27, .05 seconds ahead of Jackson’s fifth-place time of 37.32. Italy’s Serena Pergher finished fourth (37.30).
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Kok squared off against Jackson in a head-to-head race of the world-record holder and the reigning Olympic champion.
Jackson appeared to get off to a better start off the gun. But Kok had secured the lead by the first turn that she expanded on the back stretch. When Kok took the inside lane for the final turn, she was in control.
It was a disappointing finish off the podium for Jackson, but her remarkable Olympic legacy is secure. With her gold in Beijing, Jackson became the first Black woman to win an individual Winter Olympics medal in any sport. She did so having transitioned to the sport relatively late from her career as an inline roller skater.
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Men’s hockey beats Germany
The U.S. men’s hockey team handled business with Germany on Sunday night. The Americans rolled to an easy 5-1 win after a first period in which they were held scoreless up until the final seconds. It was Zach Werenski who got the U.S. on the board with just 8.7 seconds left in the period.
While the Americans haven’t lost yet, they haven’t really impressed, either. They could face much tougher competition in the quarterfinals, where they’ll get the winner of a knockout-round matchup between Sweden and Latvia.
Canada, meanwhile, has outscored its three group-stage opponents 20-3 — more than living up to the gold-medal favorite title it’s held so far in these Games.
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Two American teams in top 10 in figure skating
It may not have been the best start, but two American duos are in position after Day 1 of pairs figure skating in Milan.
Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam posted a season-best 71.87 in their short program outing on Sunday to open the competition. That got the pair, which already won gold in the team competition, in seventh in the standings. Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan weren’t far behind with an opening score of 71.06, which has them in ninth.
The German pair of Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin took a commanding lead with an 80.01 in their short program, nearly five full points ahead of the next closest team.
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It will likely take a significant push for either American team to make the podium after Monday’s free skate. The Americans haven’t won a medal in pairs since 1988, either. While it could have been better, the United States isn’t out of it on the ice just yet.
Team USA medals remain at 17
Highlight of the day
Dual moguls are chaos.
Japan’s Ikuma Horishima botched the landing on his last jump in the men’s round of 16 Sunday, then bounced back up to ski backward over the finish line. And he still won.
Horishima, skiing on the right in the video below, started to lose control of his run after the first of two jumps. But he didn’t miss a gate and recovered in time to hit the ramp for his second.
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He crash landed on the jump, but maintained his downhill momentum and popped back up skiing backward before the finish line, where he crossed just ahead of USA’s Nick Page.
It turned out that he didn’t need to cross first as Page missed a gate during his own rocky run and was disqualified. As long as Horishima completed a legal run, he would be declared the winner.
It all added up to a wild finish. Horishima rode the win all the way to the gold-medal race, where he lost to Canada’s Mikaël Kingsbury to finish in silver-medal position.
One More Thing: A silver-medal tie
Thea Louise Stjernesund (Norway) and Sara Hector (Sweden) each won a silver medal on Sunday in a rare tie. (Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)
(picture alliance via Getty Images)
Thea Louise Stjernesund and Sara Hector pulled off a rare feat on Sunday in the women’s giant slalom. They posted the exact same time, and left the mountain sharing a silver medal.
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Stjernesund, of Norway, and Hector, of Sweden, finished with the exact same time in both runs of the giant slalom on Sunday in wild fashion. The two were in total lockstep. That gave them each the silver medal behind Italy’s Federica Brignone.
While sharing an Olympic medal may not always be received well, the two seemed totally thrilled by their finish.
“We win together, for sure,” Hector said, via Reuters. “It’s like they say, feelings are better when they are shared.”
Powell, the Big East said on Sunday, “engaged in additional combative actions” during the fight. As a result, the conference hit him with a two-game suspension in addition to the automatic one-game suspension for fighting mandated by the NCAA.
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Powell was the only player involved in the incident to be assessed additional penalties. He will now miss games against DePaul, Xavier and Creighton, and will be eligible to return March 4 against Marquette.
Powell was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul after he drilled Bryce Hopkins from behind as Hopkins was going up for a layup early in the second half at Amica Mutual Pavilion on Saturday. That sparked a massive fight that resulted in six of the game’s seven ejections. At one point, Powell even tried to swing on St. John’s forward Dillion Mitchell, though Mitchell ducked just in time.
The seventh ejection came later in the second half after Providence’s Jamier Jones was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul. In total, Jones, Powell and Jaylin Sellers were ejected for Providence. Mitchell, Kelvin Odih, Ruben Prey and Sadiku Ibine Ayo were ejected for St. John’s.
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The win for St. John’s pushed the Red Storm to 20-5 on the season. It has now won 11 straight entering Wednesday’s contest at Marquette. Powell has averaged 4.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game this season at Providence. The Friars fell to 11-15 after the loss, which has them ninth in the Big East standings.
Reddick, Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin were effusive in their praise for Herbst, who crashed ahead of the finish line as Reddick won the team’s first Daytona 500. Reddick passed Chase Elliott for the win off Turn 4 on the final lap after he got a drafting push from Herbst to get around Zane Smith.
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Herbst then tried to go around the outside of Elliott as Reddick went to the inside, but he collided with Brad Keselowski as a crash took out nearly everyone racing for second place.
“I thought Riley did an unbelievable job pushing at the end,” Jordan, a co-owner of 23XI Racing, said after the race. “That shows you what teamwork can really, really do. He doesn’t get enough credit. He won’t get enough credit. But we feel the love. We understand exactly what he did.”
Herbst is in his second full season at NASCAR’s top level. After five seasons in what’s now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with three wins and a career-high of seventh in the points standings, Herbst moved up to the Cup Series in 2025 when 23XI expanded to three cars.
His rookie season was rough. Herbst, 26, finished 35th in the points standings with no top-10 finishes and just 17 lead-lap finishes in 36 races. Reddick, meanwhile, was ninth in the standings while Wallace was 11th.
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The only full-time driver who finished below Herbst in the standings was Cody Ware — and it’s safe to say that 23XI has better equipment than Rick Ware Racing does. Herbst’s best finish came at Texas in the spring when he finished 14th; he never finished above 17th in any other race.
He already surpassed that finish by crossing the finish line eighth in the wreckage on Sunday.
“Just after I got crashed for the last time at the end, I was like — all I’m looking at is the scoreboard, how many horses I still got left in the race,” Hamlin said as he saw that Wallace, Reddick and Herbst all had a chance to win the race. “To see we had quite a few cars up there for that last restart was fantastic.
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“I knew we had a great shot. When they told me at the end, I had no idea how it happened, but watching it back, it just was great to see Tyler making all the right moves and Riley just being a great teammate there at the end, giving him the pushes when he needed it.”
Reddick said that he’d happily give Herbst “whatever he wants” after the race.
“Critical. I mean, I don’t win that race without Riley Herbst. That’s a fact,” Reddick said.
“I think for me, I respect him even more on the front stretch for — he pushed me to [Smith]. I got to [Smith]. Now [Elliott] is in front of me, and I make my move.
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“I love that he made the move that at the moment was right for him to win the Daytona 500, and I told him that. Man, I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you in the way that you wanted it to, but you did — in my opinion, he did everything right on that last lap, as well, pushing me and then doing everything he could to win the race for himself.
“Obviously they all crashed, but he did a really good job today, as well.”
The NBA has for years been seeking a fix for its broken All-Star Game.
Through one iteration of the new USA vs. World format, it appears that it’s found one.
There’s no telling how this will play out in the long run. But it’s hard to argue that Sunday’s All-Star tournament was anything but a success.
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Competition returns to All-Star Game
Two teams of U.S. players and one team of World players played three 12-minute games in a round-robin format to set up a winner-take-all final. The two U.S. teams prevailed to meet in the final, and Team Stars beat Team Stripes 47-21 to claim the inaugural USA vs. World All-Star tournament championship.
The blowout final was not indicative of the rest of Sunday’s action. Each game of round-robin play was a verified thriller.
The Team Stars win in the championship round avenged a 42-40 win by Team Stripes in Game 2 in which De’Aron Fox secured the victory with a buzzer-beating do-or-die 3.
Game 1 required overtime and ended on a walk-off 3 by Scottie Barnes for a 37-35 Team Stars win over Team World.
And the third featured Kawhi Leonard going nuclear on his home court with 31 points in 12 minutes to rally Team Stripes to a 48-45 win to eliminate Team World.
Anthony Edwards wins MVP
Anthony Edwards was named MVP. He tallied 13 points in Team Stars’ Game 1 win over Team World. He posted 11 points in the Game 2 loss to Team Stripes. And he tallied 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in Team Stars’ decisive title game win.
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In total, Edwards tallied 32 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists while shooting 13 of 22 (59.1%) from the field and 6 of 15 (40%) from 3 in the equivalent of three quarters of basketball. But he wasn’t the only star to shine on Sunday.
Wemby sets the tone
Victor Wembanyama, meanwhile, set the competitive tone and was making his own MVP case had his Team World managed to win.
In a game that’s long languished without competitive basketball, Wembanyama came out firing on both sides of the court, scoring Team World’s first seven points in Game 1 while contesting every shot that was within his reach.
He finished with 33 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks while shooting 10 of 13 from the field and 4 of 5 from 3. Team World didn’t make the final, so he did this in 20 minutes across two games.
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Ant: ‘Wemby set the tone’
In his MVP victory speech, Edwards cited Wembanyama for sparking the competitive atmosphere in Sunday’s games.
“We chose to compete today, and we came out on top,” Edwards said. “I ain’t gonna lie, Wemby set the tone. He came out playing hard and we had to follow that. We had to pick it up as the red team, and we did that.”
Youth prevails in the end
In the end, the younger legs of Team Stars led by Edwards, Jalen Duren, Devin Booker and Tyrese Maxey prevailed over a Team Stripes roster featuring veterans LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Leonard. Team Stripes appeared at the end to simply be out of gas for its third and final 12-minute game of the day.
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And this was the nit to pick from from what was an otherwise standout All-Star Game. The final wasn’t competitive as Team Stripes struggled across the finish line. But it provided a showcase for the league’s young stars and may offer the league a blueprint for future roster building: Don’t separate the rosters by age.
Otherwise there was a lot to like from Sunday’s All-Star showcase from a format that the NBA would be wise to revisit.
Team Stars top scorer: Edwards; 13 points, 2 rebounds, 2 of 4 from 3 Team World top scorer: Wembanyama; 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks
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Team Stripes top performer: Jaylen Brown; 11 points, 3 rebounds, 5 of 9 from field Team Stars top scorer: Edwards and Cade Cunningham; 11 points each
Team Stripes top scorer: Leonard; 31 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 11 of 13 from field, 6 of 7 from 3 Team World top scorer: Wembanyama; 19 points, 2 rebounds, 6 of 8 from the field
Team Stars top scorer: Tyrese Maxey; 9 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals Team Stripes top scorer: Donovan Mitchell; 6 points, 1 rebound
Live coverage is over28 updates
Ryan Young
The Minnesota Timberwolves star is the All-Star Game MVP.
Ryan Young
Well, that was easy. The Stars rolled to a dominant 47-21 win over the Stripes to win the All-Star Game under the new three-team format.
Ryan Young
Barack and Michelle Obama are at the Intuit Dome this afternoon watching the festivities.
Ryan Young
A LeBron James dunk and a logo 3-pointer count as the first two made field goals for the Stripes. Jalen Brunson drilled a 3-pointer, too. But the Stars are up 23-9 now, and still in full control.
Ryan Young
Well, this one may be over already. The Stars are off to a 12-1 start after LeBron James’ Stripes have missed their first eight field goal attempts.
Tyrese Maxey just came up with a steal and an easy 3-pointer to force a timeout, too. It looks far too easy for the Stars.
Ryan Young
Team Stars and Team Stripes have tipped, and the final game is officially underway. We’ll see who comes out on top.
Jason Owens
Kawhi Leonard was unreal in Game 3. The late add to the All-Star roster put on a show with 31 Game 3 points to lead Team Stripes to a 48-45 win over Team World.
Leonard shot 9 of 11 from the field and 6 of 7 from 3 including the go-ahead 3 for Team Stripes’ final margin of victory. Victor Wembanyama had a look at a game-tying 3 on the other end, but it bounced off the rim and out.
And remember, these are 12-minute games. Leonard’s put on a show in his home gym and is line for All-Star MVP.
Team World is eliminated. Team Stars will take on Team Stripes in the final.
Jason Owens
No so fast, Victor Wembanyama. Kawhi Leonard is making his own MVP case and now has 19 of Team Stripes’ 31 points as the U.S. team has jumped out to a 31-29 advantage with 4:51 remaining in Game 3.
He’s 7 of 7 from the field, including 5 made 3 pointers. This one’s shaping up to be another thriller.
Jason Owens
Team World needs a win here or it’s eliminated. It has a 27-20 edge at a timeout with 6:45 remaining with Victor Wembanyama leading the way (11 points, 4 of 5 from the field).
Wemby’s got a real shot at MVP today, but he presumably has to lead Team World to victory in order earn it. If Team World wins here, each team will have secured a win in round-robin play, and it will come down to point differential.
Jason Owens
Through two quarters, the new All-Star format is a rousing success. Both games have been competitive, and the second was a thriller.
Nobody’s putting on a defensive clinic, but teams are competing and making an effort on both ends of the court. With games only lasting 12 minutes, players appear willing and motivated to compete.
We’ll see how it plays out for the remaining two games.
Jason Owens
Anthony Edwards put Team Stars up 40-39 late with 5 straight points in the final minute including a 3 with 19.5 seconds remaining.
But the former Clutch Player of the Year had an answer. De’Aaron Fox got open with a pump fake on the other end, then pulled for for a game-winning 3 that beat the buzzer to secure a 42-40 fictory for Team Stripes.
Team Stripes and Team Stars both have wins, and Team Stripes will take on Team World in the final round-robin game.
Jason Owens
Team Stripes remains in control with a 33-27 lead and 2:37 remaining. Jaylen Brown is leading the way with 11 points.
Jason Owens
LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard hit back-to-back 3s early, and Team Stripes has a 19-15 lead over Team Stars at a timeout with 7:08 remaining.
Jason Owens
The all-U.S. matchup is underway. Team Stars holds court after a Game 1 win and takes on a Team Stripes lineup featuring LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard.
Jason Owens
Team World appeared to be in control with a 26-17 lead. But Team Stars rallied to force overtime and was the first to 5 points in overtime in a format where the first team to 5 points wins.
Scottie Barnes’ 3 secured the 37-35 win for Team Stars. With the win, Team Stars holds court and will take on Team Stripes in the second of three round-robin games. Each game is scheduled for a 12-minute quarter, and the top two teams after round-robin play will face off in a final.
Jason Owens
We’ve got overtime in Game 1 after Team World and Team Stars played to a 32-32 tie in regulation. The first to 5 points in the extra session wins.
Jason Owens
And here’s Victor Wembanyama’s third block of the game, pinning a soft Cade Cunningham layup against the backboard, leading to Kart-Anthony Towns slam on the other end. He’s here to compete.
Jason Owens
Team Stars was up early, but Team World reeled of a 14-2 run to take a 26-17 advantage. Victor Wembanyama leads the way so far with 7 points and 3 rebounds. And he’s injecting some defense into the game with 2 blocks as he tries to swat any shot in his vicinity.
Jason Owens
With President Barack Obama sitting courtside, Suns All-Star Devin Booker took advantage of the opportunity and dapped up the first basketball fan during a break in the action.
Jason Owens
Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are in the house.
They, of course, have good seats. And Barack Obama got in on the action early.
Former Washington Commanders offensive lineman Tre’ Johnson died on Sunday, the team announced.
He was 54.
Further specifics are not yet known, though Johnson’s wife shared on social media that he had died “suddenly and unexpectedly” during a family trip after recent health issues.
“If you know Tre’ you know what a devoted and loving father he was to his children,” his wife, Irene, wrote in part. “Tre’ lived for his kid’s sports activities and supported them through every practice and game until he took his last breath. He shared his passion for Frenchie’s and riding his motorcycle with me and his fellow biking buddies.”
Johnson spent most of his NFL career in Washington after the franchise selected him with the No. 31 overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft out of Temple. He was a staple in the team’s offensive line for years, and he earned his one and only Pro Bowl nod during the 1999 campaign. The team went 10-6 that season and made the playoffs.
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Johnson spent one season away from the team in 2001, when he joined the Cleveland Browns, but he appeared in only three games after a right knee injury. He rejoined Washington for one final season in 2002. In total, Johnson appeared in 93 games throughout his nine-year NFL career.
Johnson spent time as a history teacher in the Washington, D.C., area in retirement. His wife, Irene, also worked as a photographer for multiple area news organizations. The couple had four children together.
Welcome to our annual winners and losers of the NBA’s All-Star Game, where the biggest winner of all was the league itself, as players actually tried under the USA vs. World format.
Unlike recentyears, when effort was absent, competition was central to the exhibition, thanks in large part to France’s Victor Wembanyama, who literally set the tone from jump.
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Prior to the game, after players from allthreeteams — among them Anthony Edwards on Team Stars, Nikola Jokić on Team World and Kevin Durant on Team Stripes — hinted that this year would be no different, it would not have been surprising to see more of the same.
On Saturday, Edwards, in fact, said of the absence of effort, “It is what it is at this point.”
Just before tip-off, I said to my wife, “They’re not going to try.”
“Of course they’re going to try,” she said. “It’s in their nature. They’d have to try not to try.”
“Exactly. You watch.”
Then, Wembanyama happened on Sunday.
WINNER: Victor Wembanyama
Edwards matched up against Wembanyama for the opening tip, suggesting that Team Stars would not be taking the game seriously (after all, “I’m 6 feet,” said Edwards, who is 6-4, “and he’s 8 feet”). Only, Wembanyama tipped it to Jamal Murray, immediately posted up Cade Cunningham and threw down a dunk so thunderous it changed the evening’s tone.
As Edwards told the broadcast, after an overtime win, “I ain’t gonna lie. Wemby set the tone. He came out playing hard, so it’s hard not to match that. S***, that’s what happened.”
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From there, it was game on. There were challenges. There were timeouts. Players were working the referees. Scottie Barnes even took a swipe to the face. It was real basketball.
(Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
And even though Wembanyama’s Team World lost both of its games (37-35 to Team Stars and 48-45 to Team Stripes) all three round-robin contests finished within one possession, and the Frenchman gets credit for inspiring the competition. It speaks to how good he is — that one man, albeit a 7-foot-5(?) unicorn, can swing the energy of an entire game all alone.
But Wembanyama is that good. And NBC did a nice job on the broadcast, too, highlighting him as the superstar he is. Everything he says is so great if you take it in the right tone, too.
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“What makes me so sure that I will win championships?” he asked the broadcast in a feature. “Because it’s my dream, and nobody or nothing can take away my dreams. I’m in love with the game, I’m in love with competition, so why should anybody win it over me?”
That is the stuff of legend right there. And, wait, there is more.
Earlier in the weekend, when asked if he would accept the moniker of Face of the League, Wembanyama told NBA TV’s Chris Haynes, “I definitely see it happening. I think it is the natural course of things, you know? Supply and demand, you know, and I’m here to supply.”
Given Wembanyama’s effort on Sunday, that moniker may be his sooner than later. Nobody spoke louder than the Frenchman in words and actions on All-Star Weekend.
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LOSER: Old legs
Not to start. But to end.
The question, after Wembanyama inspired competition between Team World and Team Stars — a group of mostly younger players — was whether the self-proclaimed “old heads” (a team headlined by LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard) would follow suit.
That they did in Games 2 and 3 of the evening, defeating Team Stars and Team World in back-to-back nail-biters. Legend turned NBC analyst Carmelo Anthony said he knew we were in for more effort when he saw his friend LeBron cover the court in eight steps.
In fact, a James 3-pointer, nearly from the logo, almost put away Team Stars for good in Game 2. Edwards responded with five straight, including a strip of Donovan Mitchell that he turned into a transition 3, which gave Team Stars a 40-39 advantage. Only for James to set up the final play, which fell into the hands of De’Aaron Fox, who ripped a game-winner.
Leonard took the mantle in Game 3, scoring 31 of his team’s points in a 48-45 victory against Team World that legitimately had Wembanyama bummed about the outcome.
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But in the championship game, which once again pitted the youngsters of Team Stars against the “old heads” of Team Stripes, Edwards & Co. ran away with the trophy, 47-21.
If ever there was any question as to whether a torch had been passed from one American generation — a group led by LeBron — to the next, Edwards answered with a punctuation.
LOSER: International legs (and stomach)
Jokić, still recovering from a hyperextended left knee, and Luka Dončić, still recovering from a hamstring injury, were both limited to a handful of ceremonial minutes in the first of the World’s two games on Sunday. Neither played once the competition reached its peak.
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Same goes for Giannis Antetokounmpo (right calf strain) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdomen strain), neither of whom played a minute. So, the World team, which arguably features the sport’s five best players — Jokić, Gilgeous-Alexander, Antetokounmpo, Dončić and Wembanyama — actually boasted only one of them (Wemby) on Sunday.
WINNER: Anthony Edwards
The “it-is-what-it-is” comment aside, Edwards had a fantastic weekend.
He scored 32 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the field and 6-of-15 shooting from deep across 26 minutes in three games, to go along with nine rebounds and three assists.
Asked in the arena afterward about what it was like being defended by James, Durant and Leonard, Edwards said smiling, “I want to cook them every time. You know that.”
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It was not the first time Edwards sounded cool as hell over the weekend.
Which raises the question: Is Edwards the brightest American basketball star we have? Leonard may have had a claim, given how well he has played over the past two months, and given how well he played in the earlier portions of Sunday evening, but having seen how Edwards shined over the weekend, both on and off the court, it is hard to deny him.
But even Edwards knows where the NBA’s bread is buttered.
LOSER: The Doubters
NBA commissioner Adam Silver had a wide smile on his face as he presented trophies to Team Stars for its All-Star Game championship and Edwards for his MVP performance.
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And for good reason. There were many doubters, myself included, who thought the All-Star Game had lost all hope, no matter the format, and USA vs. World would not solve it.
Then again, it sounds like even former president Barack Obama had his doubts.
“I know a lot of people have been concerned about the All-Star Game not seeing as much effort; today we saw it,” Obama told Reggie Miller on the broadcast. “And I do think that, whenever you get an international team against an American team, they want to compete.”
There Silver has it — a pretty strong endorsement indeed.
WINNER: Damian Lillard’s Achilles
I think we were all a little nervous seeing 35-year-old Damian Lillard, who has not played at all this season, trotting out there to try to win a third 3-point contest in four years, but imagine being the doctor who performed surgery on the Achilles he tore 10 months ago.
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(Dr. Neal ElAttrache, by the way, from the host city of Los Angeles!)
Instead, Lillard did what he does, narrowly defeating Devin Booker in the final of the shootout, joining Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the event’s only three-time winners.
WINNER: Jayson Tatum conspiracy theorists
Speaking of speedy recoveries from Achilles surgeries.
Quietly, or loudly, if you are in the Boston area, NBC flexed the March 1 game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers to its primetime slate, leading many keen observers to wonder if that game could signal Jayson Tatum’s return from Achilles surgery in May.
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Tatum participated in a practice with Boston’s G League affiliate this week. He said earlier in the season that, when he did return, it would be in a home game, and that is a home game for Boston. Conspiracy theorists also note that Tatum’s birthday falls on March 3.
NBC did not dissuade viewers when on Sunday the network revealed that, in collaboration with Tatum, “over the next few weeks,” it will chronicle the All-NBA forward’s return from injury in a documentary-style series, which debuted during the All-Star Game.
LOSER: The dunk contest
It was a dunk contest field that required an introduction, and it was not always a kind one.
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Carter Bryant, Jaxson Hayes, Keshad Johnson and Jase Richardson did some dunks, all of which we had seen before. In fact, Richardson recreated one by his father, two-time dunk contest winner Jason Richardson, which was cool, but the repetition got real tired quickly.
In an anticlimactic ending, Bryant did not realize he had to get his three attempts at a single dunk off in a 90-second window (why are we timing this?), missing the first two and rushing a third, less-cool dunk before the buzzer. That is how it ended. With a whimper.
Maybe it is time to scrap the dunk contest entirely.
Then again …
WINNER: Keshad Johnson
Johnson did some pretty sweet dunks.
WINNER: 1v1
Sounds like there is a lot of momentum toward a 1-on-1 competition at All-Star Weekend, if you listen to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who may or may not fear one Victor Wembanyama.
Jaylen Brown is on board, too, and he is not ducking anybody.
LOSER: Saturday’s early start time
I don’t know about you, but I had some friends who missed the start of All-Star Saturday Night because it was more like All-Star Saturday Early Evening, beginning at 5 p.m. ET.
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The good news: They didn’t miss much, as Lillard won (again), and the New York Knicks took the Shooting Stars Competition (that’s right: another shooting competition replaced the Skills Competition, because Chris Paul ruined what was left of that last year), before Johnson won a dunk contest between players most people I know did not recognize.
Is it time to scrap the dunk contest? Silver managed to spice up the All-Star Game, so maybe he can resurrect that, too. I like this idea from Edwards as a wrinkle to the event: “Now, if we have a contest where, Can I dunk on him? Can he dunk on me? That’d be fun.”
Dunking on defenders? That would be fun, Ant. That would be fun.
And who would Edwards dunk on if he could? Why, “Rudy Gobert,” of course.
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WINNER: John Tesh
Still got it.
WINNER: VJ Edgecombe
If anyone besides Wembanyama deserves credit for the effort on All-Star Weekend, it is Philadelphia 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe, who brought the heat in the Rising Stars games, scoring the final 10 points of a semifinal and delivering the title-clinching free throws.
Afterward, Edgecombe said, “I wanted to win.”
See how easy that is for the players. They would have to try not to try. Instead, they tried.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Shortly after a De’Aaron Fox buzzer-beating, left corner triple lifted Team Stripes to a 42-40 win over Team Stars in Game 2 of the new-look All-Star Game, a sweat-drenched LeBron James subtly summarized his most important takeaway from a back-and-forth contest with the younger generation.
“Old heads, 1-0,” James said with a wide grin.
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In a nutshell, the four words uttered by the greatest player of this generation were powerful. Not as a foreshadowing — Team Stars lifted the trophy after a convincing 47-21 thrashing in the final — but for the mere significance of the level of play on display. For all the talk — from social media to national television segments and podcasts alike — surrounding All-Star weekend and the lack of excitement, for all the gimmicks, format changes and incentives put on the table, the problem and the answer were always the same thing: the players.
Anthony Edwards receives the Most Valuable Player award during All-Star 2026. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(Anadolu via Getty Images)
Yes, these players endure an absolutely grueling schedule for months out of the year, pushing their bodies to their physical and mental limits. And yes, everyone deserves a break every once in a while. But in an era where effort and expectations were deemed to be at an all-time low, giving it an actual go, abandoning the idea of a passive, dull kickabout, would do a world of good. The upper echelon of NBA players got to this level by being better than the rest of the field — more intense, smarter, faster, stronger and more competitive. What better way to showcase that than amongst peers?
“I think they ain’t really going to take in what I’m saying, but I like this format,” All-Star MVP Anthony Edwards said, with 10 out of 14 possible votes. “I think it makes us compete because it’s only 12 minutes, and the three different teams separate the guys. I think it was really good … I feel like the old heads played hard, too. They were playing real good defense.”
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For the basketball purist and casual fan alike, Sunday afternoon offered up the best the NBA has to offer. Players picking up opponents at the point of attack, with real defensive intensity on and off the ball. Edwards picking defenders apart like a hyena dissolving a carcass, going right at James and Kevin Durant. Victor Wembanyama’s insatiable drive to win, visibly frustrated at missed rotations, less-than-optimal shot selection and losing. Jaylen Brown manifesting his desires for a 1-on-1 tournament, inviting anyone who dared to step up to challenge. And Kawhi Leonard, putting phenomenal belt to ass to young whippersnappers and the international cream of the crop, reminding the world — in front of his home crowd — that he remains one of the best to lace them up. Sunday was special.
“It was great,” Leonard said. “Happy that Adam [Silver] let me in. That’s what the home crowd wanted to see. I’m glad I was able to do something in that game. … It’s always fun to go out and compete with those guys and just cherish the court with them. They’re all legends, and they’re playing great basketball.”
Moving the conversation forward, seeing the likes of Edwards and Wembanyama raise their games on one of the biggest stages, as ambassadors of basketball, is critical for the future of the sport. One of the topics discussed over the weekend, as an aside to the futures of the LeBrons, Durants and Currys of the world, is the crowning of the face of the league. Both Edwards and Wembanyama offer different vantage points as it pertains to the league dynamic, but collectively, they represent the best the NBA has to offer. In Wembanyama, a reminder of the beauty in being different and the growth that accompanies that realization. In Edwards, the boldness in being apologetically yourself and discovering your true power and influence. Together, the recipe for carrying the league for the next generation is as clear as day.
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“It’s something that’s got to be natural, of course,” Wembanyama said. “Obviously, social media, the NBA can promote whoever they want. But at the end of the day, it’s going to be the best players and who the people ask for. Being the face of the league, it’s something that can be manufactured but only to some extent. It’s only going to be the best players. This is what it’s all about.”
There is a very real storm that the NBA finds itself in, with illegal sports gambling, alleged financial misconduct and tanking at the forefront of the issues. But if Sunday was a microcosm of what it means to be in the eye of the storm, it’s phenomenal. The blending of the fiery youth and the very present aging stars still gracing us with their presence is why folks pay inane amounts of money to come out in droves. Perhaps seeing the success of the All-Star Game inspires some of the most prolific dunkers to rethink their lack of interest in entering the contest. Maybe watching Dame Lillard lift the trophy forces great shooters — like Steph Curry did — to find love for the competition again.
“It felt good,” Durant said. “Hopefully we just build upon this and the weekend becomes more and more competitive, and the fans start to enjoy it more and more.”
Kevin O’Connor gives his seven biggest takeaways from a star-studded NBA All-Star Weekend. Was the new format a success? Is expansion back on the board? Kevin gives his thoughts.
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Next, Ben Golliver joins the show to break down the tanking crisis and which teams are most guilty of tanking the most.
Plus, Cedric Coward joins to share his lessons from his rookie season, his progression as a player and the toughest players to defend.
0:28 Seven biggest takeaways from All-Star Weekend 15:41 Ben Golliver joins the show 45:23 Cedric Coward joins the show
Inglewood, CA – February 15: Anthony Edwards,left, along with teammate Scottie Barnes, right, of Team USA Stars hoists the championship trophy after defeateing Team USA Stripes 47-21 to win the 75th NBA All-Star game at Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Sunday, February 15, 2026.
(Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
