Team USA Stars won the 2026 NBA All-Star Game tournament on Sunday, blowing out Team USA Stripes 47-21 in the championship game at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles . They opened the tournament with a nail-biting 37-35 win over Team World and then lost a close 40-42 contest to Team Stripes before dominating the final game.
Anthony Edwards won MVP honors after putting up 32 points, nine rebounds and three assists in the three 12-minute games played, and during his post-game interview, Edwards was asked which win was more satisfying- the one over the international stars or the victory over the league's OGs.
"Probably beating the World Team, yeah," said Edwards. "I mean cuz they say they the best players in the world. So beating them is the best feeling in the world."
With the last seven NBA MVP awards won by players born outside the United States, and with only Jayson Tatum , Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker the only Americans to make the All-NBA first team in the previous four seasons, many are saying that the best players in the NBA right now aren't Americans.
This season has been no different. Four out of the Top 5 players, including the Top 3, in the latest NBA's KIA MVP Ladder are foreign-born players, and the top fan vote getter in the 2026 All-Star Game was also an international player. Before the All-Star Game, Edwards told Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony during an NBC interview that he doesn't like when people say the world is better than the United States and wants to prove them wrong. Safe to say, he backed his words.
Although it was Scottie Barnes who hit the game-winner over Team World, Edwards matched Victor Wembanyama 's 14-point performance with 13 of his own after he said Wemby set the tone for the game with his intensity and play. Then in the finals, ANT scored all of his eight points during an 8-0 run where Stripes turned an 18-9 lead to 26-9 and never looked back, and earned his first major trophy in the NBA since joining the league as the No.1 overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft.
During his post-game interview, Edwards took a shot at Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic just like his idol and "big bro" Kevin Durant did the other day. Both Jokic and Doncic played just 5:05 minutes each on Sunday, and did not see action during the World team's second game against the Stripes team or the OGs.
"No shade towards Luka and Jokic, but like, they two of the best players in the league. They don't really…They not tryin' to play in the All-Star Game," he explained .
In fairness to Luka and Joker, both are dealing with injuries. Luka has missed the Lakers ' last four games and just played ceremonial minutes in the 2026 All-Star Game to show his commitment. Meanwhile, Jokic has just returned after missing 16 straight games since early December with a knee injury, so he's careful with his minutes. But as mentioned earlier, KD also criticized both Euro stars a couple of days ago, saying they don't take the All-Star Game seriously.
Interestingly, Adidas dropped an ad after Ant-Man was named to the All-Star game and in that ad, his video game version defeated three players who resembled Giannis , Joker, and Luka. That aged well as Edwards took home the Kobe Bryant trophy on Sunday night.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Feb 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
