NBA All-Star winners and losers: Stephen Curry saves best for last, LeBron James, Anthony Edwards sit out

SAN FRANCISCO — Another NBA All-Star weekend is in the books and, depending on who you ask, it was either a step in the right direction or the worst thing that’s ever been put on television. In that way, it was exactly like every other All-Star weekend.

In many other ways, however, this was completely different. The league adopted a mini-tournament format for the All-Star Game, which broke up the 24 All-Stars into three teams of eight, with the fourth team being comprised of the winner of Friday’s Rising Stars game. The event, won by the OGs and MVP Stephen Curry, was met with mixed reviews.

While it certainly had its very high highs and very low lows, most agreed that the competition level in the actual All-Star game was much improved from recent years. Hey, it’s a start. Here are some winners and losers from 2025 NBA All-Star weekend.

Winner: Mac McClung

If you’re going to remember anything about this weekend 10 years from now, it’s going to be Kevin Hart Mac McClung. The only three-time NBA Dunk Contest champion exceeded our loftiest expectations, putting together four of the most creative and athletically astounding dunks we’ve ever seen.

McClung said that he thinks this will be his last contest, but the NBA should be banging down his door (and offering to fatten his bank account) in order to get him back next year. 

Winner: Victor Wembanyama

OK I know what you’re thinking … this guy cheated in the Skills Challenge, so how can he be a winner?

Well, two reasons: 1) He wanted to win this meaningless competition so badly that he tried to lifehack it into submission and 2) He was 100% honest about the ruse after the game.

While everyone assumed the scheme had been hatched by veteran rule-bender Chris Paul, Wembanyama readily admitted that it was his idea to fling the basketballs off the rack rather than attempting actual shots — a rare display of honnêteté in the sports world.

Mark my words, during Wemby’s first playoff run at least one commentator will mention how his attempt to cheat in the Skills Challenge shows how fiery his competitive spirit burns.

Loser: Stephon Castle

It was fitting that this was the 25th Anniversary of Vince Carter’s unforgettable Dunk Contest performance in the Bay, because we saw almost the exact same scenario play out on Saturday. 

Mac McClung was so breathtakingly perfect that fans will likely forget that Stephon Castle had some pretty incredible dunks.

This is exactly what happened in 2000 to Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady, whose dunks would have won basically any other year that Carter wasn’t participating. Sometimes you just run into greatness, and greatness always wins. 

It sucks for Castle, who did win Rising Stars MVP honors on Friday night, who will likely be forgotten to history thanks to McClung.

Losers: Injured All-Stars

LeBron James bowing out of the All-Star Game due to ankle and foot injuries came as a surprise, and left fans in unfamiliar territory. This was the first year since 2004 that James hasn’t played in the game.

If that wasn’t enough, once the pickup-style tournament started, it became clear that Anthony Edwards was not going to check into the game at all. He later revealed that he was dealing with a groin injury that ultimately kept him out.

Fair enough — everybody has bumps and bruises at this stage of the year, and you’d never want them to sacrifice the rest of the season to play in an exhibition game. But if you sense that you have an injury serious enough to potentially keep you out of the game, you need to rule yourself out BEFORE the day of the game. That would allow a worthy replacement (like Los Angeles Clippers guard Norman Powell) to make an appearance.

Surely James and Edwards wanted to wait until the last second to make every effort to play, but ultimately it left a sour taste since it was too late for them to be replaced with another deserving player.

Winner: Steph Curry

It’s not often that Curry falls into the “loser” category under any circumstance, but he was well on his way prior to Sunday night’s final game. Curry should have been the absolute central figure of this weekend’s festivities in his own backyard. Instead, he was absent from the 3-point contest, and the whole Steph vs. Sabrina sequel that was teased for a year was completely squashed. He needed a real Curry-esque performance in the championship game to salvage the weekend … and of course he delivered.

After a relatively quiet first game, Curry broke out with a pull-up 3-pointer from halfcourt that elicited the loudest cheers from what was largely a quiet crowd all weekend.

He followed that up with a couple more 3s, including a signature look-away stunner from the left wing.

His flurry to finish things off earned him All-Star Game MVP honors for the second time in his illustrious career. The weekend may have started quietly for the Bay Area’s chosen son, but it ended the only way it could.

Winner: Jaren

The biggest comeback story of the weekend didn’t involve any of the All-Stars. It came from a kid named Jaren, who was pitted against sharpshooter extraordinaire Damian Lillard during a seemingly bizarre competition during one of the (many) breaks in play Sunday night.

The rules of the contest, run by social media sensation Mr. Beast, were that Jaren had to make one 3-pointer from the halfcourt logo before Lillard could make three. If he did, he would take home $100,000 — if not, the same amount would be donated to charity. Given that Lillard makes those shots like layups, it was an uphill battle for Jaren, to be sure.

Jaren came close on a few attempts, but when Lillard made his second, things were looking particularly bleak. Then, out of nowhere, the youngster banked one in to take home a cool $100K, much to the delight of the Chase Center crowd.

If the moment weren’t sweet enough, Jaren said he was going to use the money to help out his family and save for college.

Who would have thought that one of the most memorable moments of All-Star Weekend would come from a young man that nobody had heard of before Sunday?