Anthony Edwards put a couple of his peers on notice after being named MVP of the 2026 NBA All-Star Game.
Edwards put on a show Sunday to lead Team Stars to victory in the revamped All-Star Game held at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. Edwards beat both Team Stripes, comprised of fellow American stars, and Team World to win it all.
The Minnesota Timberwolves star sat on NBC’s postgame panel to discuss his performance and the redesigned All-Star format. When asked about Team World, which lost both of its round robin games, Edwards chalked it up to some of the global stars refusing to give any effort.
“No shade toward Luka [Doncic] and [Nikola] Jokic,” Edwards said before proceeding to throw shade.
“But like, they’re two of the best players in the league. They’re not trying to play in the All-Star Game.”
Anthony Edwards:
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) February 16, 2026
“No shade towards Luka and Jokic but like they two of the best players in the league they not tryna play in the All Star game.”pic.twitter.com/20PckZPXna
Team World was the clear favorite to win Sunday’s All-Star Game. The squad was made up of several top-10 players such as Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, and Victor Wembanyama. But Jokic and Doncic have historically given minimal effort in the midseason matchup, and that didn’t change even with the new format.
But not every European star had a lackadaisical showing during Sunday’s showcase. Wembanyama vowed to make the games competitive, and the Frenchman stayed true to his word. The San Antonio Spurs center finished with 33 points on 10/13 shooting across two games played for Team World.
The NBA made the format change to World vs. USA specifically to try to motivate players like Jokic and Doncic to compete. But that didn’t happen on Sunday, as Team World failed to even reach the finals despite Wemby’s best effort.
Perhaps NBA commissioner Adam Silver should give Jaylen Brown’s All-Star Weekend idea a shot next season.
