Biggest Winners and Losers from 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend

The NBA's 2026 All-Star Weekend is done.

The three-day affair gave us plenty of highlights and a few lowlights. Lack of attendance and strange start times were a common topic of conversation on Friday and Saturday, but Sunday's All-Star Game was an unqualified success.

Anthony Edwards' US Stars team was the winner, but he isn't the only one on that side of the "Winners and Losers" line. The biggest in both groups can be found below.

Winner: Damian Lillard

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It's been roughly 10 months since Damian Lillard tore his Achilles at 34 years old. In the past, that injury at that age would basically be a career death sentence.

But on Saturday afternoon (more on that later), there was Dame. He was back in his Portland Trail Blazers gear and lighting up the net on the way to his third career three-point contest win.

There's obviously a chasmic difference between this competition and NBA games, but Lillard looked good physically, too. His jumper was exactly as it was pre-injury. The jog from rack to rack looked comfortable.

And even with big-name competitors like Devin Booker and Kon Knueppel putting up big scores, Lillard was able to top everyone.

On top of that, he never acted too cool for the event (unlike Jalen Brunson), acknowledged that he really wanted to win and said he felt a little pressure during the closing rounds.

If more players took this weekend seriously, the league wouldn't get quite as much negative reaction online as it did on Friday and Saturday.

Loser: Adam Silver

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As he does at All-Star weekend every year, Adam Silver made himself available to the media on Saturday and took questions on a wide variety of subjects.

His answers, unfortunately, weren't very effective.

There was no reasonable explanation for why the hammer was dropped on the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers and not the dozens of other teams that have tanked in recent years.

There was no concrete information on the Kawhi Leonard, Aspiration and the alleged cap circumvention situation (which is probably fine, given the "ongoing investigation" excuse, but it was still a letdown).

His answer on the recent revelation that Giannis Antetokounmpo—one of the league's marquee players and one whose status was a significant subject of prediction markets—is personally and financially invested in a prediction market was, as Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken described it, "mealy mouthed."

Silver also threatened to strip draft picks from tanking teams, which feels wildly unfair, given how instrumental the strategy was in teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder hoarding elite talent.

All in all, the press conference did little to assuage concerns over Silver's performance in recent years, something he could've used during a weekend when the stands were, at best, half full for the Rising Stars game and All-Star Saturday Night, and when Saturday and Sunday's events were bumped to afternoon start times by Winter Olympic reruns.

Winner: Keshad Johnson

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The league's stars, for the most part, have made it clear in recent years that they want nothing to do with the Dunk Contest.

The potential for online embarrassment, apparently, outweighs the potential for glory experienced by previous champs like Zach LaVine, Vince Carter and Michael Jordan.

The competitors who answered the call—Carter Bryant, Keshad Johnson, Jase Richardson and Jaxson Hayes—at least deserve credit for not being scared of All-Star Saturday Night's lights (and the extra layer of scrutiny from social media).

And although this contest won't go down as an all-timer, Bryant and Johnson did give us a handful of special individual dunks. Johnson, specifically, raised his individual profile, too.

Before Saturday, he was a part-time player with 37 total regular-season appearances to his name. Now, he's the dunk contest champ who danced before and after each of his attempts and smiled ear-to-ear during each of them.

This doesn't guarantee future stardom, but at least millions more have now heard his name.

Loser: NBA Fans Priced Out of Attending

It's tough to know exactly who to blame this on. And it's probably unfair to single out one specific reason. But the lack of seriousness that's sort of hovered over the All-Star weekend for years was as apparent as ever on Friday and Saturday.

The lack of attendance was jarring, both in person and on television. Dance teams, Ludacris and hundred millionaire athletes performing to stands that were largely empty brought a feeling of awkwardness to the Rising Stars game and All-Star Saturday Night.

Not having stars in the dunk contest surely contributed to that. Starting at 2 pm local time couldn't have helped either.

This weekend should be a celebration of a sport loved by millions and some of the absolute best athletes who've ever walked the planet. Sunday's All-Star game achieved that, but the earlier events were an easy target for derision.

The fans deserve the former. The league and these events becoming overly corporatized makes it too easy to do the latter.

It may be difficult for the NBA to do anything about the resale market or seats that may have been paid for but weren't filled, but maybe simply reserving a few thousand seats for local high school players would help. Having a portion of the stands only available through the league and for a family-friendly price would at least be preferable to empty seats.

Somehow, some way, the NBA has to figure out a way to make this weekend more accessible.

Winner: VJ Edgecombe

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VJ Edgecombe is another player who represents hope for future All-Star weekends and deserves credit for bringing a little energy to his event.

He brought a little heart and soul to the Rising Stars game and drove his team to victory in its round-robin game.

He then hit the game-winner to close out the event.

Fans respect the players who simply try during this weekend. Even if it's just a little bit of effort.

No one's asking the stars to come out and play like they do in a playoff series. No one wants to see anyone get injured (as evidenced by the tension in the building after Richardson fell in the dunk contest).

But if the players would just treat these events like they do a pickup game without any cameras around, fans would embrace the weekend.

Loser: The Dunk Contest

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At the risk of beating a dead horse, we have to call out the dunk contest, specifically.

With all due respect to this year's competitors (who again, deserve credit for accepting the invite), the league has to find a way to get its biggest names into these events.

I'd go as far as to say that the next collective bargaining agreement might need a provision on this. Signing an NBA contract means you might be, for lack of a better term, "drafted" to compete in the dunk contest.

If, in some future year, they had the athletic or starpower equivalent of a field with Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, Shaedon Sharpe and Anthony Edwards, people would tune in and watch on the edge of their seats.

And even if the individual dunks didn't measure up to years like Vince Carter's win or the Zach LaVine-Aaron Gordon duel, name value would still keep more casual fans engaged.

Winner: Victor Wembanyama

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As much as the first two nights of All-Star weekend felt like a bit of a letdown, the All-Star game may have singlehandedly saved it. And Victor Wembanyama may have singlehandedly saved the game.

His World Team went 0-2 in the abbreviated games, but it was without Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić (who sat most of the event managing injuries). And pushed healthier U.S. teams to the brink in both matchups.

"Wemby set the tone," Anthony Edwards told NBC after the first mini-game. "It's hard not to match that."

That's all this event needed: a tone-setter. Wembanyama simply playing hard from the opening tip inspired a couple other players on the floor, including an opponent (Edwards). Once those two dominos fell, a few others had to. By the time the round-robin portion of the tournament was over, it was clear this was already one of the most competitive All-Star games in recent memory.

Wemby may not have been able to participate in the final frame, but he gave it its credibility.

Losers: Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić

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These two deserve a bit of a pass. Dončić entered the All-Star break on the injured list, and Jokić had just recently come off of it. Neither played more than the first few minutes of the game because of those injuries.

But after Kevin Durant recently blamed those two for the lack of intensity in recent All-Star games, it would've been nice to see either bring any effort to the affair.

Unfortunately, they didn't.

Now again, maybe that was never a possibility with the injuries. But whether this is a "couldn't" or "wouldn't" situation, not being able to refute KD's comments technically makes these two losers of the event.

Winner: Kawhi Leonard

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The USA Stripes got run off the floor by the Stars' younger legs in the final frames, but the single-most electrifying stretch of the whole event may have come courtesy of Kawhi Leonard.

With the matchup against Team World very much in the balance, Kawhi started absolutely torching the net with dribble pull-ups, most of which were both contested and from beyond the three-point line.

You read that right. It says 31 points in 12 minutes.

While he was on the floor, Kawhi reminded the world that he's still one of the absolute best players in the NBA.

Winner: Anthony Edwards

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There wasn't much drama leading up to the announcement of the All-Star MVP winner.

Anthony Edwards was the clear leader of the team that climbed to the top of this hill and finished with an eye-popping stat line.

And though he may not deserve quite the same credit that Wemby got for revitalizing this event, he clearly wanted to match the Frenchman's intensity. And he set the example for his own side.

Edwards was locked in as a jump shooter, hit some clutch shots and even gave a little effort on the defensive end.

By the time his Stars squad was getting its trophy, there really wasn't another choice for the Kobe Bryant MVP Award.