{"id":474220,"date":"2026-02-14T09:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T09:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/474220\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T09:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T09:42:17","slug":"nba-all-stars-take-note-rising-stars-competed-you-can-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/474220\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA All-Stars take note: Rising Stars competed. You can, too"},"content":{"rendered":"

INGLEWOOD, Calif. \u2014 If it takes the young upstarts of the NBA, the eventual stars-to-be, to reinvigorate the NBA All-Star break, then we owe them considerable gratitude.<\/p>\n

The NBA\u2019s Rising Stars set the tone Friday, Feb. 13 in an engaging and entertaining showcase that culminated with a stellar performance from Philadelphia 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe<\/a> to carry Team Vince \u2014 as in Vince Carter \u2014 to the Rising Stars championship. And as the NBA All-Star Game has faced widespread criticism for its lack of competitive spirit, let\u2019s hope that the league\u2019s biggest stars draw inspiration from its \u201cRising\u201d ones.<\/p>\n

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In the semifinal round, Edgecombe scored his team\u2019s final 10 points to win and carried Team Vince with 23 combined points across both games, including a pair of clutch, game-winning free throws in the championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate people tuning in, even to the Rising Stars game,\u201d Edgecombe told reporters after the game. \u201cWe just tried to make it fun, make it competitive, where it\u2019s worth your time.\u201d<\/p>\n

1 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 26: The Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg dunks the ball past the Toronto Raptors’ Sandro Mamukelashvili at the American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n

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1 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 26: The Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg dunks the ball past the Toronto Raptors’ Sandro Mamukelashvili at the American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n

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2 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 26: The Washington Wizards’ Cam Whitmore dunks the ball against the Charlotte Hornets at Capital One Arena.<\/p>\n

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3 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 26: The Brooklyn Nets’ Michael Porter Jr. dunks in front of the San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama at Frost Bank Center.<\/p>\n

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4 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 25: The Denver Nuggets’ Christian Braun dunks the ball against the Phoenix Suns’ Grayson Allen at Ball Arena.<\/p>\n

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5 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 24: The Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. dunks against the Miami Heat at FedExForum.<\/p>\n

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6 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 24: The Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo dunks over the Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. at FedExForum.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

7 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 22: The New York Knicks’ OG Anunoby goes up for a reverse dunk against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

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8 \/ 8<\/p>\n

Dribble into this collection of dunk photos as NBA stars posterize opponents<\/p>\n

Oct. 22: The Utah Jazz’s Lauri Markkanen dunks against the Los Angeles Clippers at Delta Center.<\/p>\n

Edgecombe wasn\u2019t alone. On the whole, the entire crop of 28 first- and second-year players who participated Friday in the Rising Stars Game established a baseline spirit of competition that has been painfully absent from the supposed gem of the weekend, the actual All-Star Game.<\/p>\n

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Did the Rising Stars unleash relentless, playoff-level competition? No, of course not. They didn\u2019t need to. What matters here is that they didn\u2019t do the bare minimum. They didn\u2019t sleepwalk and loaf through the exhibition in a way that insults fans investing their time and capital in the experience.<\/p>\n

This is what\u2019s crucial for the survival of the NBA All-Star Game, and the All-Star games of all the major domestic sports leagues, if we\u2019re being honest. There\u2019s a way to strike a balance of elevated competition without compromising safety or risking injury.<\/p>\n

This was what the four coaches of the Rising Stars \u2014 Carter, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Austin Rivers \u2014 preached to their players.<\/p>\n

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\u201c(The message) was compete hard but be smart,\u201d Rockets guard Reef Sheppard, who played for Team Melo, told reporters. \u201cThis All-Star Weekend is supposed to be fun. At the same time, don\u2019t go out there and just run around. Compete and play, but be smart and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said second-year Bulls forward Matas Buzelis, another emerging NBA star and one who combined to score 10 points across the two mini-games for Team Vince: \u201cWe weren\u2019t trying to just lay back and cruise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only shame Friday night was that, understandably, NBC prioritized its Olympic coverage for its primetime national broadcast and was forced to relegate the Rising Stars showcase to streaming-only broadcast Peacock, meaning a chunk of fans missed the showcase.<\/p>\n

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Several players said they noticed the handful of NBA All-Stars who spent their Friday night in the cosmopolitan city of Los Angeles court-side at the Intuit Dome, taking in the Rising Stars competition.<\/p>\n

\"Feb<\/p>\n

Feb 13, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Team Vince VJ Edgecombe (77) of the Philadelphia 76ers celebrates with teammates after defeating Team Melo in an NBA All Star Rising Stars championship game at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Donovan Mitchell of the Cavaliers, Scottie Barnes of the Raptors, De\u2019Aaron Fox of the Spurs and Tyrese Maxey of the 76ers<\/a> were all in attendance. All were shown on the jumbotron to applause from the fans in attendance.<\/p>\n

It was this last player who, in part, inspired Edgecombe.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTyrese is my dog, man,\u201d Edgecombe said. \u201cI was like, he ain\u2019t coming to watch if I ain\u2019t going to play hard. So I was like, I\u2019m going to play hard so at least it\u2019s not a waste of his time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he has a whole lot of stuff he could probably be doing right now, especially being an All-Star. Tyrese is my dog. I love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s to hoping Maxey and his fellow All-Stars take after these young players to give fans the showcase they deserve.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rising Stars set the tone for NBA All-Star Weekend with fun showcase<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD, Calif. \u2014 If it takes the young upstarts of the NBA, the eventual stars-to-be, to reinvigorate the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[17874,49,48,17873,31973,18716,2358,42523,459,1528,192415,14731,82,23735,19746,132413,9769],"class_list":["post-474220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-austin-rivers","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carmelo-anthony","tag-cavaliers","tag-deaaron-fox","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-matas-buzelis","tag-nba","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-rising-stars-game","tag-scottie-barnes","tag-sports","tag-the-nba","tag-tyrese-maxey","tag-vince-carter","tag-vj-edgecombe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}