{"id":468302,"date":"2026-02-14T13:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T13:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/468302\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T13:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T13:52:09","slug":"nba-all-star-weekend-team-vince-wins-rising-stars-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/468302\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA All-Star weekend: Team Vince wins Rising Stars Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After three exciting games, Vince Carter\u2019s team rose to the top in the Rising Stars Challenge<\/a> on Friday night at Intuit Dome, defeating Carmelo Anthony\u2019s team 25-24 in the championship game of the four-team competition during NBA All-Star weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia 76ers rookie shooting guard VJ Edgecombe was named most valuable player after making the tying and winning free throws. He scored six points in the final and netted the deciding points in both of his team\u2019s games.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo pressure,\u201d Edgecombe said after he was fouled on a drive to the basket with Team Carter trailing 24-23. He swished the first of two attempts at the foul line, then calmly hit the second to end the first-to-25 points finale. \u201cFree throws are precious and we needed them to win the game. We all wanted to compete. I hate losing. My teammates found me, I had open shots and I made them.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the most thrilling moments for Edgecombe came before the tournament started when he met Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to sit with him and shook his hand,\u201d Edecombe said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a conversation but he\u2019s one of the greats of all time and just him showing love even though he retired a long time ago means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first semifinal, Team Melo took an early 12-4 lead but found itself trailing 30-26 to the G League squad coached by former NBA player Austin Rivers. Houston\u2019s Reed Sheppard made a corner three-pointer that gave his team a 34-32 lead before San Antonio\u2019s Dylan Harper ended the sprint to 40 points with a 15-foot jumper to seal Team Melo\u2019s 40-34 triumph. Portland\u2019s Donovan Clingan led the way with nine points for the victors. <\/p>\n

\"Members <\/p>\n

Members of Team Vince hold up their trophies after they defeated Team Melo in a final in NBA Rising Stars Challenge Friday at the Intuit Dome.<\/p>\n

(Mark J. Terrill \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

The game pitted Ron Harper Jr. (Maine Celtics) matched up against San Antonio rookie and younger brother Dylan Harper of Team Melo, who was drafted No. 2 by San Antonio. They are the sons of five-time NBA champion Ron Harper Sr.<\/p>\n

Yanic Konan Niederh\u00e4user of San Diego, the Clippers\u2019 G League affiliate, had 10 for the G Leaguers.<\/p>\n

\"Team <\/p>\n

Team Melo frontcourt Donovan Clingan (23) of the Portland Trail Blazers, center, reaches for a rebound along with Team Austin\u2019s Yanic Konan Niederhauser (14) of the Clippers\u2019 G League team, top, during a Rising Stars Challenge game Friday at the Intuit Dome.<\/p>\n

(Mark J. Terrill \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Then, Team Vince clinched a berth to the final with a 41-36 triumph over Team T-Mac, with Edgecombe scoring 17 points, including a long fallaway jumper that put Carter\u2019s squad over the threshold.<\/p>\n

Cavaliers guard-forward Jaylon Tyson led Tracy McGrady\u2019s group with 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad we got the win for him,\u201d Edgecombe said of Carter, an eight-time All-Star who played 22 seasons in the NBA. \u201cHe told us \u2018why not play hard?\u2019 He had a lot of energy, he told us to go, go, go\u2026 and we fed off that, especially late in the first game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having three Hall of Fame coaches this year added prestige to what was established as the Rookie Challenge in 1994 that featured two teams of first-year players. The name was changed to Rising Stars Challenge in 2012 to include second-year players, and the current tournament-style format was adopted four years ago. Since 2023 it has featured 28 players \u2014 seven G League players along with 21 rookies and sophomores.<\/p>\n

Rounding out Team Carter were Derik Queen (New Orleans), Kyshawn George (Washington), Matas Buzelis (Chicago), Egor D\u0451min (Brooklyn), Jaylen Wells (Memphis) and Carter Bryant (San Antonio).<\/p>\n

It was a \u201ccool experience,\u201d Team T-Mac guard Jaylon Tyson of the Cavaliers said. \u201cI wish we could\u2019ve played a full game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team Melo entered as the favorite despite the absence of Dallas forward Cooper Flagg, who Anthony had drafted No. 1 for the mini-tournament, but was ruled out Wednesday because of a left foot sprain and replaced by Utah\u2019s Ace Bailey, who was chosen fifth overall in the 2025 NBA draft and was the only player in the top nine not drafted to one of the Rising Stars teams.<\/p>\n

Edgecombe hopes he gets to play in the Sunday game someday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be a true blessing to be an All-Star one day,\u201d he said. \u201cI won\u2019t take it for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Rising Stars Challenge was tipping off at the Clippers\u2019 home arena, the Celebrity Game was ending two miles up the road at Kia Forum, former home of the Lakers.<\/p>\n

\"Hornets <\/p>\n

Charlotte Hornets mascot Hugo jogs up the court next to Sparks player Rickea Jackson during the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game Friday in Inglewood.<\/p>\n

(Jae C. Hong \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama tossed the jump ball, with rapper GloRilla winning the opening tip against reality TV star Taylor Frankie Paul.<\/p>\n

The score was tied 55-55 with four minutes left before \u201cdouble-time\u201d scoring helped Team Giannis, coached by Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts, beat Team Anthony, coached by comedian Anthony Anderson, 65-58.<\/p>\n

Emmy-winning actor and comedian Rome Flynn scored 17 points and had four assists to win his second straight MVP.<\/p>\n

In the Friday nighcap at Kia Forum, Trent Middleton Jr. scored on a driving layup, got fouled and made a free throw with 4.5 seconds left, lifting North Carolina A&T over Hampton 71-70 in the HBCU Classic. The neutral-court game counted in Coastal Athletic Conference play.<\/p>\n

It was the Aggies\u2019 first lead since they scored the game\u2019s first basket. Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt\u2019s potential tying floater just missed at the buzzer.<\/p>\n

Middleton\u2019s defense was key over the final 57 seconds. He had consecutive steals that led to baskets by the Aggies (10-14, 3-10 Coastal Athletic) after they trailed by eight with nearly six minutes to go.<\/p>\n

Lewis Walker led the Aggies with 18 points, including four straight free throws that tied the game at 68-all. Middleton finished with 15 points, including six of seven free throws, and Will Felton added 12 points off the bench on five-of-six shooting.<\/p>\n

Hampton (12-14, 6-7) was outscored 9-2 over the final 43 seconds, getting just two free throws by Gaines-Wyatt. He and Xzavier Long led the Pirates with 17 points each. Elijah Kennedy had 13 points off the bench. They had five players in foul trouble, including Long and Josh Ogundele who fouled out.<\/p>\n

Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After three exciting games, Vince Carter\u2019s team rose to the top in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[217700,217698,217701,4233,217702,355,15691,13544,18223,217699,99,217697,1599,217514,217513,19626,36059],"class_list":{"0":"post-468302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-cavalier-guard-forward-jaylon-tyson","9":"tag-first-year-player","10":"tag-kia-forum","11":"tag-lead","12":"tag-mcgrady","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-all-star-weekend","15":"tag-point","16":"tag-portland","17":"tag-rookie-challenge","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-stars-challenge","20":"tag-team","21":"tag-team-melo","22":"tag-team-vince","23":"tag-triumph","24":"tag-vince-carter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}